Resistance
by That One Random
Summary: Omega. Home to the worst criminals in the Galaxy.Home to three mercenary groups. All looking for 1 very specific person. Omega is knocking at Richard Caines door. They just didn't expect Hell to knock right back. Warnings for some chapters are placed at beginning of them for pure caution.
1. Prologue

**_Prologue:_**

**_January 5th 2183_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Space_**

'_Keep moving. Don't look back.'_

Bullets streaked by me, way too close for comfort. The shouts of the three mercenary gangs-Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack-could be heard throughout the station. A bullet hit my shields, sending them down more than was comfortable.

I turned around focusing on the offender and began to glow blue. The fear in the merc's eyes was apparent.

'_Go fuck yourself merc'_

I launched an orb of biotic energy towards him quickly spinning back around to run to the nearest spaceport that would take him to the Citadel.

The shouts of the merc's were closer now. They were closing in.

I looked around frantically trying to find a way out. There were boxes around-prime targets for helping me get to the rooftops of Omega. Agility was one of my major strengths and I intended to use everything I could to get out of this mess.

* * *

**_January 5th 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Space_**

**_Local Time: 10:40am_**

_"Run boy! Run!"_

_The house was ablaze with fire. Blood Pack's work._

_My father had attempted to take a stand against them and their intimidation techniques. I had lost count of the amount of times me and my father had stopped to take care of a vorcha intimidating someone to get some money. It was only a matter of time before they came for us._

_"I said run boy! Now!" A deep, gruff voice shouted through the smoke of the fires._

_I was searching desperately for my father. And then I saw him die._

_I ran into the room he was in, surrounded by Blood Pack krogan. All had shotguns pointed casually at him. He was getting pummelled by some of the biggest ones there whilst another krogan stood directly in front of him speaking._

_"You should of stayed out of our business human" He rumbled "You would still have your house and life left to you. Instead you and your boys meddling has cause us to take action." He paused for dramatic effect. "Ah fuck it." He pulled out his shotgun and loosed a round off. Straight into my father's head. His body slumped downwards and hit the floor with a great thud._

_Tears ran down my face as I escaped the fire of my house, my life being destroyed._

I woke with a start to some Blue Sun batarians chatting in front of me. I groaned inwardly knowing _exactly _what had happened. Fucking merc's.

Ah well. Explanations later. Right now I felt like tearing some mercenary's limb from limb and these gents were kindly volunteering.

"You know…" I began, standing up smoothly. "You would think you guys would have learnt to stop trying to kill or rob me by now." I focused slightly, turning my eyes a biotic blue and covering my body with a biotic hue. "So if you want to keep living I suggest you turn around and tell your boss to shove it."

The idiots went for their pistols almost immediately. Two accurate, fast and powerful balls of biotics were hurled towards them, smashing the two against a wall behind them and knocking them clean out.

'_Fucking idiots. Why do they **always** do that?'_

I slumped against the wall, still waking up. Blue Suns seemed bloody desperate to grab a hold of me or my homemade equipment.

A sharp, bitter laugh came out of my lips as I remembered the nightmare and the memories associated with it.

'_Most of it is anyway'_

I sighed, a hand going up to the dark hood to pull it down covering my eyes. Ever since that fire 10 years ago I had been striking against the Blood Pack and other mercernaries guerrilla style. Hit-and-run worked well against the unagile krogan brutes and idiotic vorcha. They seemed to be catching on to who was striking against them though. They were appearing much more alert, if not cautious.

The balaclava around my neck came up covering my mouth and nose. I had been…taking some payback on the mercs the first few years and seemed to get stuck in this business. Honestly not too sure if I _want _to get out. This had become a way of life for me, a routine. Old habits die hard right?

I pushed off the wall, heading away from the dim lights of Afterlife's exterior.

The memory of what happened made me laugh. I had gone and got drunk blind after a successful hit on some Eclipse drug runners and one of the Blue Suns had seen my trademark hood and balaclava. All they had to do was carry me out. Thank god for biotics and stupid fast immune systems.

I headed up to street level, looking to keep an ear out for any info on merc activity.

No rest for the wicked, right?

**_A/N-Hope everyone likes this writing style. I realize that the prologue was a bit short so hopefully this next one makes up for it._**

**_Any reviews-positive or negative-are extremely welcome!_**

**_EDIT:Like I said in chapter 6, I'm going back through and editing things to make them seem more believable or just better in general. Plot holes and all that snazzy stuff._**


	2. Beginnings

_Chapter 1: Beginnings_

**_January 5th 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time:01:00pm_**

**Richard:**

I had wandered through the stations busier street area, sticking to the shadows, listening in on others conversation, picking up bits of information here and there. From the general talk between some Eclipse mercs, chatting quietly, there was a warehouse where a red sand deal would be going down. I planned to be the party crasher.

But I couldn't go there with just my biotics. I'd be slaughtered instantly. It was unusually high with security. My apartment, which too isolated from the crowds of Omega, wasn't too far away from here and I figured I could take some time to hack into the warehouse blueprints for any side entrances. It looked to be going down tonight and I didn't have much time to plan because of that. Everything would have to be perfect.

I had finally reached the long bridge that signalled the only way into my place. The entire run from the run across the rooftops, I had spent trying to think of a way in without getting slaughtered. They all included two people and there was no way on hell I was getting help from someone on Omega.

Back to my humble abode though. The isolation was one reason I chose this apartment, the long bridge and one-way entrance another. Merc's could only get to me across that long bridge which was virtually suicide. The only downside was that I was trapped if that attack ever did come. It had other perks though, like a really sweet balcony, overlooking the long bridge across to the place. I walked through the front entrance, slowing my pace right down.

I flopped on the couch slightly panting from the exertion of free-running across the rooftops. I loved it, when I wasn't running for my life. The freedom, the rush of being so high up was brilliant. And the mercs _never looked up_. Idiots.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I needed to do two things before I began planning out the hit on this warehouse. One of them included some leftover pizza, the other figuring out how the fuck I was to infiltrate said warehouse. It would be hard, no doubt about that.

I got up, walked over to the monitors that were set up in a darkened corner of the room that was basically the centre of my operation. Street cameras, bugs on high ranking merc's, you name, I probably have it. 10 years running a guerrilla-style operation had to mean something surveillance wise right? I began hacking my way through the Eclipse database. Child's play for me. If you had to class me by Alliance standards? Best Sentinel out there, I would probably be. My biotics were _amazing_, even if having them included some bloody terrifying downsides. Tech-wise, I could hack my through Omega blind, although that's probably due to spending so long around their systems. I lacked in real, full on, guns blazing action though. I had no idea how to handle a gun and relied solely on biotics and street-fighting to help me. Long range fights sucked, big time.

'_Right. Onto business'_

I was about to switch one of the monitors over to a screen letting me see the layouts of buildings, when something caught my eye on one of the cameras. I turned to it, mildly surprised to see a female turian taking cover around a corner, in a firefight with some Blue Sun's.

Welp. Time to go play hero.

I sprinted out the apartment, pulling my dark hood and black balaclava up to trigger the shield generator, and hit the rooftops running to the back alley the turian was holding off in.

_'If there was one thing my father was good at then it was definitely tech' _I thought, never failing to be impressed at the tech stored inside the once too big hood and the ominous looking balaclava. He had built for me before he died, when we were planning to stand up to the mercs. I was only 15 at the time. Think he was irresponsible? Nah. Omega just caused people to grow up quick or die in the dust.

Harsh reality's I guess.

**_Local Time:01:30pm_**

**Vindicta:**

Shot after shot hit the slowly degrading wall covering her. Blue Suns were everywhere, determined to finish the job they had started days ago. She lifted her sniper, quickly aimed in, and loosed a shot that hit a vorcha square in the head, dropping him like a sack of bricks.

'_If I ever get out of this I swear the bastard who killed 'em is dead' _she thought venomously.

Another shot from her sniper dropped a batarian trying to flank her. The gun pinged, signalling it's overheat. She just sighed and began to swiftly switch to her pistol, when a she felt a great force hit her from behind and deplete her shields. She spun around, pistol in hand and shot the offender just as he shot her.

She felt something rip right through her armour, her shoulder and come out the other side. Blue blood flowed from the wound momentarily before medi-gel stopped the bleeding. The pain stayed with her though, making her weak, unfocused and dizzy. She fell to one knee from the sudden nausea at seeing her own blood.

They were closing in on her now. Like a predator approaching a dying animal.

A rough boot met her face and her world went black.

**Richard:**

I came up to the alley just in time to see the turian get booted in the head.

'_Ouch. That had to hurt'_

Then one of them put his gun against her head and tried to pull the trigger. He couldn't. It was as if some unmovable force had jammed the trigger.

God I loved biotics. A little trick I had picked up was how to accurately manipulate mass effect fields to jam weapons. It was like some kind of natural talent for me.

I jumped off the rooftop I was on landing lightly and smoothly choked the merc in front of me out. Ah awesome one liners, here we go.

"Hey fellas!" I announced myself, forcing myself to look intimidating with my biotics curling around my body. "Didn't anyone tell you about personal space!"

I launched the furthest one into a wall and spun around with my momentum, kicking out against the unlucky sod caught by the kick. He staggered back as I advanced and dropped against the wall, out cold with a thin stream of blood coming from his lip. I heard heavy footsteps behind me and ducked, spun and jabbed the batarian looking to shoot me point blank in his eyes, blinding him. I followed up quickly, driving my knee into his stomach, maybe cracking a rib or two from the placement. He too dropped.

I looked around at the remaining three merc's and lowered my voice, just loud enough to be heard.

"Look gents, I'm gonna be nice here. Walk away and I forget all about you. Raise a gun and get squashed against that wall behind you." I said quietly, hoping that the intimidation would work.

It didn't as the three raised their guns and got promptly flung and squashed against the wall, knocking them clean out. I breathed annoyed.

'_Why the **fuck**__does every here do that? Idiots.'_

I looked around making sure the coast was clear. My eyes fell on the turian that fallen during the battle.

'_Can't exactly leave her here to die from some scavengers.'_

I knelt by the turian checking what I assumed to be her pulse. I knew how to use medi-gel but sorting out bullet wounds? Nah. Not a clue.

I got up and sighed. She was still alive at least and the bleeding had stopped. I stretched my shoulders and picked her up and threw her over my shoulder, using biotics to lessen the weight on them.

Shouts reached my ears, signalling reinforcements.

'_Oh shit.' _I looked around frantically for the roof I had come down from.

"Turn around now and we might not shoot you" A gruff voice, batarian most likely, commanded me just as I had found the roof. I turned around quickly and launched a warp field at his head, spun around and ran like hell. As I had spun around to launch the warp ball, I caught sight of at least 15 Blue Suns.

'_Run, boy! Run!'_

I scrambled onto the rooftops and ran like hell, focusing on the steps in front of my, my breathing, my balance. Falling now would result in either death or a lot of broken bones.

I felt something shift on my soldiers and dismissed it. She couldn't be waking up already could she? That was a hell of a hit she had taken.

Another shift, more insistent this time.

Then a voice.

"Hey!..."

The voice trailed off as I reacted, putting the turian in stasis. I couldn't afford distractions now.

One step in front of the other. Breathe in, breathe out. I was in my element up here and the reinforcements had already been lost. I headed back to my apartment, preparing myself for the onslaught I was bound to get from the stasised turian.

**A/N-Hope everyone enjoyed that one. If not, well, tell me why. xD**

**So, vigilante squad anyone?**

**Adios amigos.**


	3. Old History (1)

**Chapter 2: Old History**

Quick, light steps. Jump. Land, bending my knees to absorb the impact from the jump.

After the escape from the merc's in the back alley, I had quickly settled into my usual routine of free-running quickly and quietly across Omega's rooftops. I had spotted a few patrols searching for us but none looked above them.

'_Heh. They never look up.'_

I took the long route around to my place, just in case. Paranoia at it's finest.

Once inside, I lay the frozen turian on the couch and looked at her as I lowered my hood and balaclava, eyes returning to my natural deep blue colour.

"I'm gonna unfreeze you now ok? Do me a favour and don't freak out about me throwing you in Stasis"

I focused momentarily on the fields holding her in place and removed them. Almost as soon as that happened, a sharp pain came across my cheek as she slapped me.

I backed up hands in the air, dodging her attacks.

"Hey! Calm the fuck down princess, I'm on your side here! Or did you not notice all the dead merc's in that alley?"

The turian stopped and cocked her head at me, growling aggressively. At least it sounded _fucking terrifying_. I breathed out. At least she had stopped trying to hit me.

"At least you stopped the hitting.." I muttered "Sit down. I need to ask you something."

"Why should I trust you?" the turian growled quietly. That was _really_ terrifying. "You just put me in stasis for fuck's sake."

"In case you didn't notice, I kicked those merc's asses and saved _your _head from getting a bullet lodged in it." I sighed, trying hard to relax. The hunger from the biotics was starting to come on and I opened the fridge behind the couch looking for food. "And the stasis was so you didn't throw us both off the roof."

"Look..." I began, glancing over my shoulder "I just want to know why those merc's were after you. After that you can do whatever you want."

She sighed, collapsing on the couch.

"Let me sleep first. I just got shot and it hurts like a bitch." She settled down on the couch, letting her armour apply medi-gel to the wound, stopping the bleeding and kick starting the healing process.

"Fine."

**3 hours later:**

I had changed into more casual clothing: some jeans and an old t-shirt. My trademark jacket with the hood on it stayed on though, the dark leather a familiar friend. This was the piece of equipment that had saved my life multiple times as well as my one remaining possession from my father; that and the balaclava that covered my mouth and nose, leaving only my eyes exposed.

I walked back into my operations centre and saw the turian out like a light on the couch.

'_How badly did they want her to make her fight _that _hard?' _I wondered. She must have done something really special to piss them off I thought with a slight smile.

I spotted the hole in her shoulder and after a moment's thought, pulled up the extranet on my omnitool and searched for a guide on dressing bullet wounds. I spent some time reading over it, figuring the turian wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. It was actually pretty simple.

'_This probably an awful idea'_ I thought to myself, walking over to the turian, being careful to not wake her. I slowly undid the shoulder part of her armour and pulled the bandage from the first aid kit I had dug out from the kitchen a while back.

As soon as my hand touched the shoulder to shift it a bit, her eyes flew open and her undamaged hand came up and grabbed my hand tightly.

"Hey!" Then I saw the drowsy look in her eyes. "Look, I've already said I won't hurt you. I'm just dressing the wound to stop infection from setting in!"

The turian studied him carefully, judging him. She just nodded and let his hand go.

"So, you got a name? I don't feel like calling you 'turian` for the next hour or so."

A moment's pause before the turian spoke.

"Vindicta."

Silence and a pained grunt from the turian as I shifted her shoulder up to wrap the bandage around her shoulder tightly.

"Sorry. First time doing this so don't expect expert work here" I studied my handiwork. "Not too shabby though if I do say so myself."

I got up and sat down on the chair by all my intel and brought up a filter.

"What was the name of the guy that ordered the hit on you? And don't pretend it wasn't a hit. Those pricks were way too determined." I asked, fingers hovering over the virtual keyboard.

"No idea." Vindicta replied, with a slight flanging behind her accent. "Why the hell are you helping me? I mean, this is Omega for fucks sake."

I thought for a second. I wasn't exactly gonna spill my entire past to her. This _was _Omega after all.

"You think everyone on this station is bad?" I asked "Not all of us are scum."

"That doesn't answer the question."

I sighed. She was persistent then.

"A combination of personal motives and nothing to lose…besides someone has to help on this hellhole of a station." I looked at her "So, why were those merc after you? You must've been fighting for a while to sleep that long." I smirked "Especially on that shit couch"

"Long version of short?" she asked me.

"Long. Start at the beginning, leave nothing out."

Vindicta sighed slipping into old memories.

**Vindicta:**

**_January 3rd 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: Unknown_**

"Hey! Get the fuck off me jerk!"

Vindicta awoke with a start, to the sound off her brother telling her to let his hand go.

"You idiot. How many times did I tell you not to sneak up on me while sleeping?"

"Shut up and come with me. Blue Suns are at Mum and Dads and their refusing to pay extortion rates."

"Ah shit"

Vindicta hurried out of bed and threw her armour on with practiced ease.

"I guess they got sick of their bullying?" she asked her brother with a hint of pride in her flanging voice.

"Dead on."

"What are you waiting for then bird brain? Lead the way" She demanded strapping her sniper and pistol to her back and hip, respectively. "May as well kick their asses now rather than later."

Wordlessly brother and sister left the apartment and ran to their parents' place.

About 5 Blue Sun's stood arguing with her parents. Vindicta had scoped the place out for the best place to snipe and was ready to shoot at any time. Her brother was much closer, shotgun loaded and aimed at a merc's head.

She spoke to her brother through the comm unit.

"Ready?"

"You bet. Do it."

Vindicta called up her parents. She saw her mother press a finger to her ear, frowning.

"Hey mum. Duck."

Her mother grabbed her father and pulled him down with her.

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

Three lethal shots hit three unarmoured heads as her gun pinged alerting her to the guns overheat.

'_Game on, fuckers'_


	4. Old History (2)

**_Chapter 3: Old History (Cont.)_**

**_A/N-Fun fact: Vindicta is Latin for 'Revenge'. Pretty cool right? Expect a lot of Latin inspired OC names in this as I'm hopeless at making names up on the spot._**

**Vindicta:**

'_Game on, fuckers' _she thought, switching to her pistol swiftly.

Shotgun blast's echoed through the air and the two remaining merc's dropped.

Vindicta quickly jogged from her hiding spot over to her parents as she spotted her brother doing the same.

"Hey Dad. So you finally grew a pair eh?"

Vindicta helped her father up and crushed him in a hug. He just groaned.

"Spirits, woman, I prefer my bones didn't get crushed into dust! And anyway." He said, gently moving him from her. "What the fuck are you doing here? Not that I don't resent the help with those assholes." Vindicta simply pointed at her brother, who was searching a merc's body.

Her brother suddenly swore under his breath. "Fuck. Their sending reinforcements to check on them."

Vindicta just looked at her family, mandibles spread in a cocky grin.

"You still got those assault rifles you used to use in the military?"

They both nodded.

"Grab 'em. This is gonna be a long day."

**Richard:**

**_Present day_**

"Hold on a sec. You just resisted the merc's, just like that?" I gave a low whistle "That takes guts. Or a whole lotta crazy. And how the fuck didn't I notice this? A firefight between merc's and innocents tends to attract my attention. I trailed off thinking. "Or maybe I just don't have cameras in that area. Gonna have to fix that…"

She just smiled slightly; at least I assumed the slight widening of her mandibles was a smile.

"Go on, keep going..." I said as I turned round to my monitors searching for evidence of the firefight.

**Vindicta:**

**_January 3rd 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: Unknown_**

_Crack!_

She pulled her eyes away from the scope, completely focused.

It had been a few hours since they had stood up to the Blue Suns and the reinforcements had come a-knocking. Good thing her parents balcony overlooked the entrance. She didn't fancy her chances anywhere else with the limited cover around.

A shout from the door caught her attention. Her parents and brother were by the door and windows, keeping the merc's down with shotgun and assault rifle fire. They had been doing a great job but one of the merc's had somehow managed to get close to them and was returning fire. Vindicta simply scoped in on his chest and loosed a shot.

_Crack!_

The bastard dropped dead, bullet hole clear in his chest. She saw her mother grimace slightly, but thought nothing of it. It was just exertion right?

Then the merc's _really _brought their guys to the fight.

Mercenary's flooded the street, clearing out civilians in a hurry as they set up in cover. About fifty men, all armoured and armed heavily.

"Spirits…" Her father muttered.

Vinidcta hurried down the stairs, swapping her sniper for the pistol on her hip, and gripped her father's shoulder.

"You _will not _give up. What we will do is kick these bastards all the way to dark space. Understand?"

There was a fire in her eyes, her father saw which told him she believed they could win. A moment's silence. Then the battle hardened turian spoke.

"Ah fuck it. Life was pretty shit on this station anyway." A grin formed on Vindicta's face as she looked around at her family.

"Well, what are waiting for? Better sooner rather than later!" And with that Vindicta and her family opened fire on the mercenary's, prepared for the fight of their lives.

**Richard:**

**_Present Day_**

I interrupted her, sensing something personal coming up. I didn't need to put anyone through what I thought had happened. I gave a low whistle.

"They wiped your family out didn't they?" Vindicta just flinched and nodded her head then lowered it. Almost shamefully. I ignored it, placing it on survivors guilt. "You're the last one?" Another nod. I just got up and threw her sniper at her. I had taken it off and modified it to shoot armour piercing rounds. Nothing special, but it would still help. "Your name means Revenge in Latin" A confused look was shot at him. "It's a dead language. I just studied it a lot in my spare time before...well I guess I can tell you later." The look grew even more confused. "Look. Your family's gone right? I'm guessing you want revenge. I fight the merc's on this station for a living. Piece it together."

There was a moment of hesitation as Vindicta considered the offer.

"I'm in."

I grinned at that, my first real smile in years. "Fucking A-right. Now to business. That was the Blue Sun's you were fighting right?"

"Yup. Know a turian commander called Dominus? He went off the rail's in the military and got dishonourably discharged. He was the fucker that led the squad that murdered them."

I sat down on my chair and swivelled around pulling up a filter on one of my many monitors and searched the name. Nothing came up.

"Nothing. Huh. That's new." I said with a frown on my face. Then an idea hit me. "Eclipse..." I muttered.

Vindicta got up from the couch and stood by me. "What about them?"

"There's a red sand deal going on in one of their warehouse's tonight, I think. I know for a fact the merc groups keep tabs on each other and if Dominus leads a merc squad, you can bet your mandibles that they have intel on him." I pulled up the warehouse's blueprints, smiling. This would be much easier with two people. "Obviously going in through the front is out. That'll be heavily guarded. There are some vents on the roof but I have no idea where they lead. Windows on the side could be breaching ways in, but we would attract a shit ton of unwanted attention. We only want the dealer and a terminal I can hack into their system through. Knowing Eclipse, that room would be pretty heavily guarded, so combat will be unavoidable. Hopefully, the element of surprise helps us."

Vindicta cocked her head at him, impressed. "That was…pretty fast and accurate. You sure you weren't military?"

"I'm sure. What I am is someone who has 10 years of experience fighting mercs and making them shit themselves."

Vindicta looked at him "That was you? You're the one that caused them to shit themselves and run to their shadows?" She gave a low whistle. "That takes guts. Or a whole lotta crazy."

I just turned back around to my intel smiling. I could get used to this.

"You know, you just saved my life, got my name and the story of why you had to save my sorry ass." Vindicta paused. "So, name?"

I glanced over my shoulder, fingers working furiously on the keyboard bringing up warehouse schematics.

"Caine. Richard Caine"

**A/N-So once again hope everyone enjoyed that one. I know I enjoyed writing it. xD**

**I do apologize for the short chapter however. Once again it just felt like a natural end point for the chapter as the tension shifts or the pace changes. You get the idea.**

**So up next, the hit on the Eclipse warehouse. Expect that to take a chapter or two up and some pretty interesting things to develop there.**

**If you enjoyed drop a review, favourite, follow, whatever. If you didn't, drop a review all the same. Feedback is _always welcome._**

**And in case I haven't already mentioned this, thank you to anyone who is reading this. You have no idea how much I appreciate people taking the time to read this. Hopefully this is the start of an awesome series of fanfics.**


	5. Mercbusters

**Chapter 4: Mercbusters**

**_January 5th 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: 08:00pm_**

"So, one more time." I said.

Vindicta sighed, going through their plan they had worked on for hours.

"Rappel down to the window and smash through quietly." Vindicta frowned. "Although, I'm still failing to see how _that_ is quiet." I just smiled slightly and motioned for her to carry on. Had to be certain with someone I had never worked with before. Come to think of it, I had never worked with anyone on things like this before.

A sigh left the turian. "We spilt off. You take down the dealers, while I head to the nearest balcony to snipe anyone you can't reach. Once the dealers are dead, we search around the place for a terminal you can use to hack into the Eclipse network for info on Dominus."

I clapped sarcastically. "Give the woman a trophy." That earned me a glare that I just chuckled at. Contact with others had been minimum in the last 10 years and I had no idea if the turian would stick around once this over.

I pulled my hood and balaclava up, muffling my voice a bit. "Come on. Let's go before the party kicks off without us." The turian nodded her helmet sliding onto her head. We left the house and quickly hit the rooftops to avoid attention. After the basic plan had been formed for the break in, I had given the turian a crash course in free-running the roofs of Omega, half expecting to have to stick to the crowded streets with her. Thankfully Vindicta was a quick learner.

A particularly big jump between the usually crowded buildings of Omega forced me to use my biotics to send me a bit higher and I spun around and lifted Vindicta onto the roof with me.

Damn I'm good with biotics.

The run to the warehouse was a long one and we quickly establishd a similar pace, with me slightly ahead of Vindicta.

"Caine? Why the fuck haven't you brought a gun with you?" Vindicta had just realized that I had left without weapons.

_'Huh. Guess that's not normal for others'_

"My biotics and fighting skills are more than enough for me. Long range sucks big time but close and medium range and I can tear anyone to pieces." I frowned "Except a Justicar maybe. Anyway. How am I supposed to be this stylish with an assault rifle hanging off my back?"

I slowed down so I was running next to Vindicta.

"You haven't got an amp either. How the fuck have you got biotics?"

"Honestly? I have no fucking idea and it terrifies me. Maybe I'm just a special case? I don't know."

We ran side by side, jumping all over Omega's rooftops, black shadows to anyone that looked up. Not that anyone did.

A funny thought came to me.

"It's a bloody good thing those merc's went after you actually. I probably wouldn't have been able to take this warehouse without help. At least not without being shot a good few times." I was silent for second, thinking hard. "You got anyone else to go back to Vindicta?"

The turian just shook her head. Maybe I was being too insensitive…Ah fuck it, this was Omega. Girl had to be tough to have survived.

"Ermm…You want to keep on doing this? I mean taking on the merc's. 'Cause I could use the help and contact with people that aren't trying to kill me is pretty rare."

The offer hung in the air for a few seconds. The turian kept on running, contemplating.

"Let me get back at the prick that killed my family. Then..I don't know." Vindicta kept running eyes on the roof ahead.

I just nodded as we came around the corner and came up on the warehouse below us.

"Fair enough. Throw me some rope." I said as I knelt down and drilled the anchor into the roof with my biotics. Straight below us was the warehouse, with just enough room for us to rappel down and through the window. The fast rope was laid by the anchor and I quickly wrapped the rope around the anchor and attached two descenders to it; one for me, another for Vindicta.

"You remember how to use this?"

"Yup."

"Good. Let's go then."

I jumped off the building, spinning around and planting my feet on the wall, and began descending, feeding the rope through my fingers as I descended. I heard a light thud above me and looked up to see Vindicta doing the same. We came level with the windows, bending and slightly stretching the rope so Vindicta was beside me.

"So Caine, how are you going to break glass quietly?"

I grinned, focusing on the glass and creating mass effect fields inside and outside it. Slowly I pushed them in, until they were touching the glass with just enough pressure that it wouldn't slip out underneath. Breathing slightly harder than usual, I looked up and focused on the roof above us sending the glass to rest on top of it.

I relaxed my focus, biotic hue fading off my body and looked at Vindicta with a cocky grin on my face. "Just like that. I'd like to see an asari do _that._" Vindicta just chuckled quietly as we swung in. Old as this way of infiltration was, it still worked like a charm. That and it looked and felt damn epic to swing in through a window without anyone noticing.

We landed softly, my biotics making blue-ish curls around my body and my eyes a dark colour. Vindicta caught a look at my eyes glowing and did a double take.

"Don't ask. I have no clue why they do that but it makes me look damn awesome so no complaints here." I answered the unasked question. I took a quick look around the warehouse, noting the best sniping spots in my head. "Ok. Looks like there's a few balcony's with a good sightline but only a few offer good cover." I pointed the three with the most cover out to her. "Those three are probably your best bet, right?"

"Right. You move into position and wait until I tell you to attack those mercs." She said. She paused looking at me. "You sure you'll be fine without a gun?"

"I'll be fine. Like I said my biotics are more than enough for me."

I moved up taking cover behind some containers and heard gruff voices speaking loudly.

"You got it?"

"Yeah. Got my credits?"

Before I could hear anything else, I had pressed a finger to my ear, comm unit buzzing to life.

"Vindicta, you at the balcony yet?"

"Almost. Just wait a few minutes."

"These guys are gonna be gone in a few minutes. I'm going in."

"That's Suic…"

There static as I cut my comm unit out. I had to nail these guys now.

I stood up, biotics curling around my body violently. Ten mercs were all stood in a circle; some wore the trademark Eclipse armour, others wearing the Blue Suns armour.

'_Bingo.'_

_"_Hey guys!" I shouted, throwing on my best neighbour voice. "Whatcha doing?"

A Blue Suns batarian stepped up.

"None of your damn business human. Now go before I lose my patience."

I just looked at him, unmoved by his attempts at scaring me. A second or two passed before I moved.

I thrust my right hand towards the arrogant prick, lifting him off his feet and slamming him against a group of containers. He was out for the count.

I looked at the others that had started pulling their guns out. I focused slightly, jumping up and throwing a mass effect field beneath my feet, suspending me in the air as they opened fire on where I was stood seconds before.

Another burst of focus from me and a simple hand movement sent another grunt flying towards one of his friends, making the two collide and pass out. A bit of a recurring theme that I had picked up on the last few years.

The remaining seven merc's circled my floating position, preparing to open fire. I jumped off my mass effect fields and hit the floor lightly. No sooner had I done that, than I had begun moving to the Eclipse merc in front of me, letting loose a front kick into his ribs and following it up with a spinning back kick to the head.

Four down, six to go.

A sharp _Crack _echoed through the and a merc dropped.

Make that five to go. I guess Vindicta had got to her balcony.

I turned around looking at the merc's. Three Eclipse and two Blue Suns were left.

I prioritized two of the Eclipse group, lifting them up and throwing them against the roof above them, letting them fall on some stacked containers.

The other Eclipse was nowhere to be seen and it was just the two Blue Sun's left, pointing their guns at me.

I just sighed, focusing at creating two tiny yet powerful mass effect fields around their triggers, preventing any fire. I approached one of them and slammed my fist into his nose, simultaneously breaking his nose and knocking him out.

My focus on the last batarian, I walked up to him, glaring at him.

"Don't move mate. We're gonna have a little talk first."

The Blue Sun went to run and promptly froze as I put him in stasis.

I put a finger to my ear, activating my comm unit. "Get down here Vindicta. I think we just found something better than that terminal."

There was a burst of static as Vindicta replied.

"The next time you plan on going all suicidal badass on me, let me know yeah? Those holes in your jacket are warning enough." Damn. She was sounding angry.

I looked down, frowning at the tattered jacket around my body.

Huh. Guess they actually did get a few shots off on me.

"Just get down here before these idiots realize what's happened."

I turned around pacing back and forth, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down from the adrenalin rush. I turned my mind to the Eclipse that had escaped. Who was it? Someone important or just another grunt? Food for thought, I guess…

I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to a _very_ angry Vindicta storming towards me.

'_Well fuck'_

She just grabbed me, threw around the containers and slapped me. _Again._ She grabbed me again, pushing her face into mine, doing that scary as hell growl again.

"_Never _do that again Caine. I've already seen enough bad guys die. I _don't_ need to see one of the only good ones go as well." She backed off slightly. "That might work when you're on your own but when you're in a team? Be patient. Learn that lesson fast Caine, before we have a problem."

I just looked at her then exploded. "The fuck do you think you are? I've done that same thing thousands of times and come out of it alive and kicking. I know what the fuck I'm doing. Learn _that_ lesson before we have a problem Vindicta."

She glared daggers at me. "More stuff will get done, better and faster if we coordinate properly. It's a logical outcome and you'll have to adapt to it." She went off around the corner then paused to glare at me. "Your biotics might be bloody impressive but don't think your invincible; everyone makes mistakes and getting cocky will just make yours come quicker.

**A/N-If you think Caine appears a bit overpowered right now, don't worry. These are just grunts, remember? Geth or Collectors will be much tougher to take down.**

**Anyways, have a good one guys.**

**Adios.**

**EDIT: Definitely the most edited chapter right now. I felt like too much was being given away, too soon, something that I should thank MECHANICALCHEESE for making me realize. Thanks mate :D.**


	6. The Good Old Fashioned Way

**Chapter 5:The Good Old Fashioned Way**

_Bam!_

The batarian grunted from my punch, blood spilling out of his nose.

"I'll ask you again." I growled quietly "Dominus. What do you know about him?"

He spat at me, blood landing on my chest. "Go fuck yourself, tough guy."

I gave a laugh at that and motioned at Vindicta. "Sure. If you insist."

She came forward cracking her knuckles. The…questioning had gone like this for the past few minutes. We didn't have much more time but I could tell this guy was approaching breaking point with us. They all tried to act tough when their pain threshold was being hit.

Vindicta leaned in close to the merc, sliding a sharp talon across his cheek. A thin line of blood dribbled down said cheek moments later.

"That the best you got bitch?"

Another talon down the side of his face, much harder and faster this time. And this time, the poor bastard screamed loudly as the talon dug into the wound.

I came forward again, looking at the merc coldly. "One more time and she gets five minutes with you. You don't want that do you?" The batarian shook his head frantically at that. "Okay then. So you tell us everything you can about Dominus and we let you go."

There was a moment's hesitation at that offer and Vindicta took a step forward, menacingly. That was more than enough for the merc and he broke and spilt the beans.

"Hey! Hey! Keep her the fuck back from me and I'll tell you everything!"

"Better hurry up mate. I'm starting to feel a tad impatient and my colleague here almost certainly is." I growled lowly. Who said I couldn't do intimidating when I needed to?

"He's Blue Sun's, turian, ex-military. He leads a squad of merc's on taking down anyone resisting them. Excels at fighting in urban environments, like Omega. Guys a damn nutcase. He insists on murdering anyone who even _looks_ at him funny. The only reason he's still around is because of his ability in a fight. He's a brilliant tactician and can make that assault rifle of his sing. That good enough for you!?" The batarian scrambled all this out, frantically. So this guy was clearly someone important to know all that.

"Yup. It'll do." I stepped forward glowing biotically.

"So I can go right? Right?"

"Sorry man. You chose the wrong side." I focused on the stasis, bringing it down and quickly threw the merc into a pile of metal containers, knocking him clean out.

Vindicta looked at me. "Was that really necessary? And what was the point of all that? We learned nothing!

I looked right back at her. "To answer your first question, do you really want to fight off a bunch of merc's because this snake went and sounded the alarm?" Vindicta shook her head "Exactly. He's not dead, just out cold. Anyway. To answer your second question, we got invaluable info. We learned that Dominus can handle an assault rifle like a king and is a brilliant tactician, telling us that _we_ have to set the encounter up on _our _terms, preferably with you sniping his turian ass."

Vindicta just shook her head. "All that so we could learn to set a fight up on _our_ terms? Doesn't seem worth it."

I started walking towards the balcony, where the room entrance's where located, Vindicta following me. "These merc leaders are tough as fuck. We need every advantage possible with this bastard if you want to win."

We walked in silence for a while, ready for a fight. We reached the balcony and spilt off, looking for a terminal for me to hack into. We entered the first room, ready for a fight to find a salarian sitting at a terminal, typing furiously. At least he was before he got stasised.

Me and Vindicta looked at each other. "Have a chat with him, while I hack this terminal. Try not to kill him though eh?" I told her, moving the salarian and dropping the stasis as Vindicta got a hold of him. I sat down and started on the firewalls. Smart bastard had locked the terminal as we came in.

Now, for the hard part. This hack could take a while.

**Vindicta:**

Vindicta grabbed a hold of the salarian as Caine dropped the stasis he had thrown on him. She needed answers.

The salarian was panicking before she even hit him, mumbling something.

"Speak up! I can't help you if you don't talk common sense salarian."

He cleared his throat nervously, eyeing Caine out the corner of his wide eyes.

"Keep him away from me! I'll do whatever you want, just keep that…monster away from me!" The salarian begged, desperately.

'_What the fuck?'_

_"_What the fuck are you talking about? Him?" She pointed at Caine. He was busy hacking into the terminal. The salarian nodded frantically. "What the hell has he done for you to be _this _scared?" She asked. Well, more like growled.

The salarian gulped nervously. "You don't know? He's nuts. Ten years he's been after us. _Ten years._ He knocks most people out now, you know. But wind back time, say, four years? He was nuts. Anyone who stood in his way, he murdered. And it wasn't pretty. Entire merc bases would go dark, nothing but blood left on the walls. The human would fight like a man possessed." The salarian visibly shook. "He _tore bodies _in half. With _his hands."_

Vindicta looked at the young man, shocked and surprised. Caine-as cocky and annoying as he was- just didn't seem like much of a murderer. The salarian said he had fought like a man possessed. Maybe he let people survive as a sort of retribution for himself?

"Sorry 'bout this. I promise you'll wake up alive." She curled her hand into a fist, making sure her talons couldn't hurt the salarian and punched him in the face. Crude but effective.

Vindicta walked to Caine's side. "Get anything good from him?" Caine asked.

"Yup. Something very interesting." Vindicta paused. "That salarian said that you fought like a man possessed a few years ago. That anyone that opposed you would die. Explain." There was silence from the young man. "Answer me Caine."

**Richard:**

"Yup. Something very interesting." Vindicta paused. "That salarian said that you fought like a man possessed a few years ago. That anyone that opposed you would die. Explain." I was silent, flooded with old memories. Flashes of blood, screams of the dying echoed in my ears. "Answer me Caine."

I looked at her, wanting to avoid the subject.

"I'm not talking about it Vindicta. You'd have to get me _very _drunk if you wanted to hear that one"

**Vindicta:**

Vindicta nodded her understanding. She knew when to stop prying. "So, what have you got?"

There was a pause from Caine as he went back to the hack. "The hack's still working…I'm getting bits and pieces but nowhere near enough to piece a picture together. Give me five minutes though and this thing will be singing for us." There was a couple of minutes silence while Caine typed furiously at the keyboard, working his way through the merc's firewalls.

Caine swore. "Bollocks. I just tripped an alarm by accident."

"I'm not hearing any noise"

Just at that moment, sirens echoed through the base.

"You had to say something didn't you?" Caine said. He thought for a second, still typing away. "You think you can hold this room for five minutes? I should be able to get through and download everything onto my omni-tool in that time."

Vindicta thought for a second, considering. She was pretty handy with a pistol but the odds were stacked against her. It shouldn't be too hard though. Only five minutes on her own then Caine could get his biotics on the go and they should be able to fight their way out.

"Sure. One thing though." Caine cocked his head slightly. "Get your angry face on once that hack's finished. We're gonna need your biotics to come out to play for this one."

Caine nodded his understanding, looking grim at the thought of the fight ahead.

Vindicta took position at the doorway pistol in hand and prepared to fight.

**Richard:**

As Vindicta took position in the doorway, I looked back at the terminal trying to focus on the hack. I might have to kill. _Again._ Sometimes this job sucked.

My fingers were still typing furiously, body reacting instinctively to taking down the firewalls, while my mind wandered. My mind wandered so much, in fact, that I jumped a bit as I got through the final firewalls and into the system. I automatically started the download to my omni-tool and got up to join Vindicta, who was busy defending the doorway. "Two minutes on the download and we're good to go." Vindicta nodded then leaned out to fire at the approaching mercenaries. There was _way _too many of them to take out non-lethally. About 20 Eclipse mercs were all lined up on the floor below them, assault rifles and shotguns aimed at the door.

'_Bollocks. Looks like this will get bloody then'_

**Vindicta:**

Vindicta popped her head around the corner, aiming and firing at the oncoming mercenaries then popping back into cover. That required stint in the military had done her good. Too bad she had gone and cocked it up and got herself discharged.

She popped around the corner again as she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Two minutes on the download and we're good to go." Vindicta had leaned back into her cover as she listened to him and now nodded and popped back out, intending to kill a few of the mercenaries.

That was until Caine stepped out and _annihilated _the one stood below her.

He simply thrust his hand towards the merc and he was thrown against a nearby wall so hard that he literally _splattered _on impact.

'_Holy Shit…'_

Caine didn't waste any time striding into the open and punching a human so hard in the face that the _crack_ from his neck breaking was heard from her position.

Another thrust from his hand, the left one this time, sent some poor bastard through the glass roof, leaving him to drop onto the floor below them, a bloody pulp.

'_Spirits…'_

It was truly frightening seeing Caine like this, she realized. He was relentless, brutal and utterly efficient at killing. That thought led her onto another one.

'_This is the first time I've seen him willingly kill people. We must be in some deep shit then. Lovely.'_

Just as she thought that thought more mercenaries came flooding through the doorways at the side surrounding them. Caine, seeing the obvious threat fell back into the room, breathing heavily.

Vindicta looked at him. "You alright? You're looking a bit…out of it."

**Richard:**

My entire body was tingling with the feeling of killing again. _For fucks sake._ It was like some kind of reaction to the kill, making my body feel intensely…good. It was stupidly addicting, henceforth the knock-out takedowns. It would be _so easy_ to fall back into that trap.

_Shouts and yells of pain. Blood splattered walls. Body parts lying on the floor._

I shook my head and popped out throwing another one against the wall, smashing his body to pieces. Another spark of that euphoric feeling flooded my body. I shuddered.

'_No way. Not giving in again. Nope'_

Vindicta was giving me this funny look.

"Later" I managed to gasp out. "I'm good to fight. Just don't make me talk too much."

She shrugged and popped out of cover with her sniper out and shot another merc clean through the head.

'_Shake it off Caine. This isn't the time."_

I blinked a few times and took a running jump off the balcony, landing behind some containers I used as cover. I popped out again, throwing warps through both hands. Both hit their targets and another rush hit me.

'_Focus Caine. Ignore it.'_

Another kill, another rush, bigger this time, sending a shudder through my body.

'_Oh fuck. This isn't working.'_

I couldn't just stop killing them. We'd die here. There was still about 10 mercs left and we were beginning to tire. But if I didn't stop killing them…well, old habits are easy to fall back into. We needed a way out and fast. I looked up at Vindicta, popping shots off at the mercs trying to flank me. The download should be finished by now, so we could get the hell out of Dodge. There was _no_ way out though. Not without slaughtering every merc in the place or getting slaughtered themselves.

A merc came around my cover pointing an assault rifle at me. I reacted instantly, standing up and snapping the bastards knee by kicking the inside of it then following my momentum and coming around with another spinning back kick. The merc fell unconscious and the expected euphoria rush didn't come to me.

'_Thank fuck for that.'_

I looked at the merc's broken body when an idea came to me. All their armour was the same. And my armour I was wearing would definitely fit under that. There was no turian armour around though which posed a problem.

I used my biotics to launch myself back up into the room Vindicta was holding.

This plan sucked.

**Vindicta:**

Vindicta looked at Caine in disbelief as he hurriedly explained his plan to her.

"And you think we can just walk out there, you in merc armour and me defenceless, without getting our brains plastered against the wall? They'll realize you aren't a merc the second we run." He nodded. Crazy fucker.

"Yeah. It's simple. Let me go back down, take a merc out, get their armour and come back up, on the stairs this time. I come in and pretend to disarm you. Then I take you outside under the pretence of executing you." He said. Again.

"Yeah, I got all that Caine. I'm more bothered about the mercs following us out. What then?"

"Run." He said simply. "Hit the rooftops and run like hell. If we get separated, meet back at my place. They'll be surprised by the change in pace and won't react quickly enough to gun us down immediately."

"This is nuts." He nodded. "Suicidal almost." Another nod. Vindicta groaned. "Best hurry up then, before I change my mind." He set off about his plan.

Vindicta retreated back behind her doorway, breathing heavy from the exertion of combat. As crazy as the plan was, it could just work. She couldn't kill anymore though or they might all just rush at once. So with nothing more productive to do, she sat down at the terminal, scan-reading through the info on their. A bunch of junk mail, detailing Eclipse plans.

'_Caine will like that one.'_

There was one email, standing out from the rest thanks to its title and subject. Vindicta opened it, quickly reading through it and stopped halfway through.

'_Well Shit.'_

It had been sent from a Blood Pack krogan battlemaster, about a day ago. It read:

_Recipient: Dominus, Jona Sederis_

_Sender: Nirenk_

_Subject: N/A _

_Look people I'm gonna be straightforward with you lot here. We're getting our asses handed to us by this vigilante and separately, on our own, we WILL fall to this ghost of a person. United though? That's a completely separate ball game. Supplies, forces and more will be increased by our joining together. We would be untouchable and Omega would belong to us again. Garm expects a response soon; as a sign of goodwill, attached to this email is a picture of our adversary._

_I, personally have met this man, in his younger years. I thought I had dealt with him and his family and was wrong. DO NOT under any circumstance underestimate him. Even then he was cunning and he has only improved since._

_Whether or not you survive the oncoming storm is up to you people. Dominus, forward this to your leader. Jona, Garm expects a response within the week._

_Attachment: adversary._

Cautiously, Vindicta opened the attachment, knowing what was coming.

An image of Caine popped up on the screen. He had his trademark hood up but his balaclava was hanging around his neck, leaving his face open for identification.

'_Caine will **not** like this one.'_

Vindicta quickly copied the document onto her omni-tool, just in case. The door slid open just as she finished revealing Caine standing there in full merc armour, gun at the ready. He advanced in, closed the door and lowered his gun.

"Right then. Let's do this, shall we?" He said.

**Richard:**

"Right then. Let's do this, shall we?" I said. Vindicta looked up from her omni-tool and stood up from the terminal.

"Gimme your weapons. Merc's won't like you having a giant sniper on your back." I told her with a cheeky smile on my face.

"Really? Fucking hell. I want this back as soon as we get back Caine." She said as she gave me her weapons.

"I don't know. They look like a lot of credits to me." I said. "Joking." I added on as she glared daggers at me.

"Let's do this before I realize how insane this is."

We walked out the door, a gun at her head to a bunch of merc's lined up outside.

"Where do you think you're going?" One of them asked.

I just shook my gun and mimed shooting her, then pointed outside. Talking would kill our cover so I stayed uncharacteristically quiet. The merc just nodded and motioned for the others to follow us.

'_Lovely.' _I thought sarcastically. We headed outside, into the musty air of Omegas shady side. Shadier side, maybe? There was no happy side of Omega that's for sure.

"Well!" The same merc from before barked. "Come on boy, we haven't got all day!"

I laughed, pushing Vindicta to start running. "Fuck off mate." I ran towards the rooftops, bullets beginning to fly past me.

There were crates ahead of me and I used them as a springboard to jump onto the rooftop. I glanced behind me whilst running ahead and saw three lightly armoured mercs chasing me.

'_Nothings ever easy'_

I poured on the speed, jumping a large jump with my biotics and heard a yell from behind as one of them fell short. I grinned to myself as I heard it. Two more to go.

I jumped down onto street level and rolled to the side into an alleyway, hoping the sudden movement would lose the two. It did. They ran straight past me into the crowd. Idiots.

'_Thank fuck for that. I've had enough killing for today.' _I thought as I headed back to my place to wait for Vindicta.

**Vindicta:**

Caine laughed, pushing Vindicta to get her running.

"Fuck off mate." She heard him say as he too sprinted away, in a completely separate direction to her.

Vindicta jumped onto a low hanging roof and began running, two mercs following her. She jumped, rolling on impact to absorb the shock of the jump and watched the pair mimic her as she ran off to street level looking to lose them in the crowds.

At least she was going to before a bullet went through her shoulder wound.

"Fuck!" She yelled out, spinning around and falling face down from the momentum of the shot. One of the mercs must've lost her or fell off because there was only one in sight. And all her weapons were with Caine.

'_Brilliant stuff Vindicta. Fucking A-grade thinking there.'_

The merc approached her, pistol up and finger on the trigger. Vindicta let her face fall to the floor, listening for the mercs footsteps as he approached.

Once he had got close enough to her, Vindicta reached out with her uninjured arm and grabbed his foot, pulling him down. His pistol went off the rooftop and both people stood up. Vindicta changed her stance up so her uninjured arm was her lead hand. Her injured one hung limply by her side.

"Come on then you bastard." She snarled out at him. "Let's do this.

The merc lunged straight at her and got acquainted very well with her front jab. He stumbled back and Vindicta pushed forward, slightly unsteady from her wound and followed with a front kick that sent the bastard off the roof.

She stumbled backwards and sat down, breathing heavy from her wound. She called Caine up on her onmi-tool and got an answer almost immediately.

"I'm guessing you lost your tail then?" he said.

"Yup. Although I might need a new shoulder. Bastard shot me through my shoulder wound."

"Lucky prick. Can you get to my place? I've got basic med supplies there."

"Yeah. I'm on my way now." Vindicta told him as she got up. "That shit couch of yours is getting slept on again after this."

She heard him chuckle at the other end. "Race you to it then."

She spread her mandibles in a grin. Fucking crazy.

**A/N-hope everyone enjoys that action-packed chapter. This final version looks a hell of a lot different than my original idea for it. Honestly, though I think it looks much better than my original idea and once again I hope everyone enjoyed it. **

**I apologise for any spelling/grammar mistakes but I usually write these late at night after trying to develop these ideas out.**

**So on that note, Adios amigos. Have a good one.**

**EDIT: Yeah. Pretty much everything after the first part of this chapter has been completely re-written. Less info given away freely. After all, it is Omega after all right? xD**

**Hopefully the hand to hand sections are good. Those are the meat and bones of combat on Omega for Caine so writing them badly? Nu-uh. Not a good idea. Currently writing the next chapter, although I don't want to give a time frame for it to be up. I want to take my time and make sure it's at its best when I post it.**

**.**


	7. Old Wounds

**Chapter 6-Old Wounds**

**A/N-Just to let people know, previous chapters have been changed and updated (hopefully for the better) so I suggest you go read those if you haven't already, otherwise stuff in this chapter won't make much sense.**

**_January 5th 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: 11:00pm_**

******Vindicta:**

Vindicta jogged across the long bridge to Caine's place, staggering every couple of steps as her shoulder sent a wave of hurt through her arm. She jogged in to see Caine sitting at his terminal, going through all the info they had got from the merc base. And he looked pretty happy with it.

"Caine." She announced herself. "Having fun there?" she asked him as she collapsed on the hard couch. She would show him that e-mail later. Once they had slept and recovered.

He turned around, a huge smile on his face. "It's got info on pretty much every major deal the Eclipse are going to be involved in, in the next month or so." He turned back to the terminal, chuckling. "They're gonna have a heart attack when I turn up."

"Yeah, well, try to contain your excitement. I need some sleep and my shoulder hurts like hell." She said. "Where the hell are some painkillers?"

"Kitchen." He said.

She nodded, getting some, chucking them back dry and collapsing on the couch once more. She was out as soon as she hit it.

**Caine:**

I was buzzing. The info we got from the terminal would fuel my ops on the mercs for the next month. The fuckers wouldn't know what hit them.

I went through them, ordering them by date. It would let me see what would go down, when it would. I checked the cameras, chuckling at the reaction of Eclipse grunts as they heard the news.

I clicked the screens off and leant back in his chair, closing my eyes. I was aching and tired even though I was buzzing. Sleep came easily to me even if the chair I was sitting in was awful.

**8 hours later:**

**_January 6th 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: 7:00am_**

A talon on my shoulder woke me with a start and I jumped out my seat, biotics curling around my body.

"Woah Caine. Calm down. You need to see this." It was Vindicta. She was scrolling through the e-mails on my system, navigating to the earlier ones and opened one. "Read it." She told me.

I leaned in close, blinking sleep out my eyes.

What I read woke me up. Fast.

It read:

_Recipient: Dominus, Jona Sederis_

_Sender: Nirenk_

_Subject: N/A _

_Look people I'm gonna be straightforward with you lot here. We're getting our asses handed to us by this vigilante and separately, on our own, we WILL fall to this ghost of a person. United though? That's a completely separate ball game. Supplies, forces and more will be increased by our joining together. We would be untouchable and Omega would belong to us again. Garm expects a response soon; as a sign of goodwill, attached to this email is a picture of our adversary._

_I, personally have met this man, in his younger years. I thought I had dealt with him and his family and was wrong. DO NOT under any circumstance underestimate him. Even then he was cunning and he has only improved since._

_Whether or not you survive the oncoming storm is up to you people. Dominus, forward this to your leader. Jona, Garm expects a response within the week._

_Attachment: adversary._

He had seen me, when I was younger. He had 'dealt` with my family.

"Fuck off." I muttered to myself. "It can't be him…"

I flicked on a secondary monitor and pulled up Nirenk's file from the Blood Pack servers and froze for a second when I saw his picture. He was instantly recognisable, except for a few extra scars. I did a double take at it, instantly awake and angry. I opened the attached picture and saw myself, hood up, balaclava down, face open for anyone to see.

"Shit!" I shouted. Vindicta looked at me surprised. I ignored her, pulling up files on Nirenk, trying to find him, or a last location I could work off. I felt a talon on my shoulder.

"Caine." Vindicta said "What the fuck is going on? What the hell has Nirenk done to piss you off?"

I looked over my shoulder, feeling an old anger surfacing again.

"This is the fucker that killed my father Vindicta."

There was a moments silence from Vindicta before she spoke.

"You sure about that?"

"You don't forget a face like that easily. It's him."

"So, what are you gonna do about it Caine?"

"Hunt the fucker down and kill him." I said venomously. "And he's got contact with Dominus. You still in this?"

She nodded. I thought for a second. I figured I could trust her, seen as we just fucked a bunch of mercs over in the warehouse.

"Take a seat then. You told me why you want Dominus dead; I'll tell you why I want this prick dead." I told her.

* * *

**_2171_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: Unknown_**

_"Richard! Richard! Up now!"_

_He woke with a start, the sound of laughter and the smell of fire hitting his senses._

_"I said up Richard! Now!"_

_His father was stood in the doorway, combat gear on, his hood and balaclava up. _

"_Their outside, waiting to flush us out." That explained the fire._

_ "What? What the hell is happening?" I asked him. _

_"Blood Pack krogan have come for us. Battlemasters and warlords are outside._

_I jumped out my bed, pulling on some jeans and a jacket. "How many?" I asked_

"_Too many." He said. "We need to leave."_

_A gruff voice hollered from outside. "Come on out scum! Die with honour!" _

_He thought for a second then nodded to himself. "Stay here kid. I'll be back soon." I nodded, scared out my mind._

_He left, leaving me in the room, thinking out all the ways I could of how to get out of this. I heard that voice from outside. "Taking the easy way out? Coward." There was a chorus of laughter then a grunt and a roar of pain. A grim smile appeared on my face. Crazy man had hit him._

_There were heavy footsteps running to his room and his father burst in, grinning. "God, that was satisfying. Come on, their bumbling in now." We sprinted out the door, headed downstairs, when we saw a battlemaster blocking our way down. He laughed when he saw us._

_"Come on then cowards! See what fighting true Blood Pack is like!" He roared at us. I ran straight at him, ducking underneath his swing when he followed his momentum and spun around, kicking me in the back down the stairs. I lay at the bottom, stunned by the hit. A heavy _thunk_ broke me out of my daze and I rolled over to see my dad being dragged towards my room by the krogan merc. A heavy foot fell on my chest and I immediately held my breath and relaxed my body, playing dead. He inspected me; the lack of blood must be confusing the bloodthirsty killer._

_I held my breath, willing myself not to take that deep breath. The smoke would set me coughing and the movement in my chest would be the end of me. _

_The merc nodded to himself, satisfied by my apparent death. He kicked me to the side, hard and I hit a wall so hard I left a dent in it._

_"Urghhhh." I moaned to myself. "That's gonna hurt in a day or two." The krogan paused on the stairs looking at me and charged at me. _

_'Bollocks.'_

_He hit me. Hard. He carried me all the way to the wall and slammed me against it. This time I blacked out for a second; a momentary relief from the pain that flooded my body from the hit._

_The next thing I knew I was lying on the floor, no krogan in sight. I got up processing the info and what was happening around me._

_"Run boy! Run!"_

_The house was ablaze with fire. Blood Pack's work._

_My father had attempted to take a stand against them and their intimidation techniques. I had lost count of the amount of times me and my father had stopped to take care of a vorcha intimidating someone to get some money. It was only a matter of time before they came for us._

_"I said run boy! Now!" A deep, gruff voice shouted through the smoke of the fires._

_I was searching desperately for my father, running room to room. And then I saw him die._

_I ran into the room he was in, surrounded by Blood Pack krogan. All had shotguns pointed casually at him. He was getting pummelled by some of the biggest ones there whilst another krogan stood directly in front of him speaking._

_"You should have stayed out of our business human" He rumbled "You would still have your house and life left to you. Instead you and your boys meddling has cause us to take action." He paused for dramatic effect. "Ah fuck it." He pulled out his shotgun and loosed a round off. Straight into my father's head. His body slumped downwards and hit the floor with a great thud._

_Tears ran down my face as I escaped the fire of my house, my life being destroyed._

* * *

**_J_****_anuary 6th 2181_**

**_Omega_**

**_Terminus Systems_**

**_Local Time: 7:15am_**

"The way I saw it, I had two ways to go. One was to the Citadel, nursing my wounds, bitter and angry. The other was to stay here, let my body heal on its own and my biotics to help with that. I would be able to take revenge and continue what we started." I began to finish off. "So I did just that. Except I never found _anything_. Not a scrap to lead me to my dad's killer, except for my own memory of the face. It was like he just vanished off the face of the galaxy."

Vindicta whistled lowly. "Christ, Caine." She was silent after that.

"So…" I began. "This is the way I see the situation right now. You want revenge on Dominus. I want revenge on Nirenk. Dominus and Nirenk have been in contact with one another. I could learn some valuable info off the bastard."

She answered my unasked question. "I'm in Caine. 'Till the end."

I nodded. "Good." I turned back to my terminals, mind whirring on how we track Dominus down.

'_Oh. Hello there'_

I could trace the mail, identify the send location.

"Vindicta. I do believe we are in business. Slap some medi-gel on that shoulder. We have work to do."

**A/N-Ah backstory reveals. Many more of those upcoming and I doubt they'll be any easier to write.**

**So hopefully this time, this backstory reveal makes a tad more sense than my original idea.**

**Apologies for any spelling/grammar or any other cock-ups. **

**Adios amigos.**


	8. Three Titans

**Chapter 7: Three Titans**

**A/N-Just a quick warning or two:**

**This chapter is pretty long for me, so apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes or any rambling that might happen.**

**Mild torture scene towards the end of the chapter-skip that if you want, you should be able to catch up pretty quickly.**

**Other than that enjoy people!**

* * *

**January 15th 2181**

**Omega **

**Terminus Systems**

**Caine:**

"Gotcha!" I shouted in victory. The trace on the e-mail was about ten times harder than I had expected it to be. The thing had been sent on a completely separate system to Omegas one, making firewalls and encryptions much harder to get through for me. The code used for Omegas system followed a sort of pattern for the firewalls and encryptions and sooner or later, the patterns in each firewall repeated, making it easier to get through once memorised.

None of those patterns existed in this system; I must've blundered my way through layers upon layers of security before having to restart at square one all over again in case they found me tracing the message back. It was frustrating yet necessary; if they caught my trace, traps could be laid for us or even worse, they could make it backfire on me and they get the address of my place.

A week of frustration, long nights and lots of coffee had paid off though. I had _finally _got the trace finished and it led us into…

"A fucking Blood Pack base? Shit." Vindicta said, looking over my shoulder. "How many krogan are we meant to sneak past? Fuck that, what happens when we get found?" she said.

"Calm down. Give me half an hour to have a look at the plans for the building and if I don't have something, we hope to God that something else comes up we can follow up." I told her.

"How the hell are you so rational about this? You're talking about the group that murdered your father like it's nothing."

"I'm no use to anyone dead. I plan to live through this one." I replied. "Now, do you mind giving me some silence? I need to think this through." She turned back to the couch, sitting on it and fiddling with her omni-tool. I sighed, and turned back to my screens, pulling up the blueprints and some images of the building in question. Perspective was everything here and missing something key could lead to our death.

"Windows are out, guards will probably be patrolling. Front door is out, naturally. No vents, snipers on the roof." I muttered to myself, thinking aloud. "Any ways into the place underground?" I pulled up blueprints of the sewer system underneath Omega, seeing if it leads us into the building. It didn't.

"Okay then. That's out as well." I looked over the blueprints again, this time looking for any structural weaknesses.

"Hello there." I zoomed in on a corner of the building. It led into a room isolated from the rest of the building by layers upon layers of security and krogan and it was soundproofed. Looked like some kind of torture room. "Vindicta, come here!" I called over to her. She approached looking at the corner.

"You want a way to blow it quietly?"

"Yup."

"It can't be done. Even through soundproofing the explosion would still be noticeable."

I sighed. "Of course not. Alright, let me take another look." I turned back muttering under my breath. "Place is a damn fortress."

The building was three floors high, probably being guarded by krogan and vorcha. As far as I could see there was no way in stealthily. Going in guns blazing was practically suicide but was starting to look more and more like the only option for us.

That thought triggered another one in my head, making me grin like a madman.

'_Caine, you crazy fucker.'_

I turned around to tell Vindicta the plan.

**10 minutes later:**

"Caine you are one crazy fucker, you know that right?" She said in response to the plan.

"What? It _could _work. Blasting in through the roof gives me the element of surprise and lets me throw a few people around before the others catch on and respond. You swinging in through the window when I do this lets you disable alarms and hunt for info without getting your ass handed to you by krogan."

"And then you have to deal with a base full of krogan and vorcha while I do that."

I shrugged. "I'll think of something."

She shook her head. "Why the fuck do I agree to these plans?"

I grinned. "The crazy way is the best way sometimes. I do believe this is one of said times."

I got up and walked to my balaclava, sitting on the table. I put it on, sliding it up my face.

"Get your stuff Vindicta. No time like the present." I remembered the actual topic of the letter. "And if we run into the three merc groups working together, I'd rather not have this on the backburner."

**1 hour later**

**Local Time: 12:00am**

"Vindicta, I'm in position. Let me know when your good to go and I'll kick this off." I said through the comm unit.

"Gotcha."

I was sitting on top of the roof of the merc building; two disc grenades planted on it and ready to blow. I was a little further away, biotic barrier up around me for when I dropped in. Vindicta was heading to a neighbouring rooftop to rappel in through the window when I blew the explosives. All the attention should be on me. The plan was for Vindicta to scan through all the systems she could while I held off the Blood Pack mercs. We'd meet up in the room I had suggested blowing a hole and I would blow the wall with the other explosive I had on me. Simple, crazy and suicidal as fuck.

My comm unit buzzed to life. "I'm ready. Blow it Caine."

I grinned; making sure my barrier was strong, I blew the grenades.

A mighty explosion and dust cloud rose from the grenades location and when it cleared, a jagged hole in the roof was in its place.

I jumped down into the base, focusing hard, making sure my biotics were ready to go. It had been a while since I'd purposely picked a fight with a krogan or vorcha.

"Hey fuckers! Come on out and get me! Or are you all gonna hide like cowards!" I yelled, making as much noise as possible. Had to have their undivided attention after all.

A vorcha came surging round the corner of the hallway I stood in, his gun up only to receive a blast of energy that threw him against a wall so hard I heard the crack of his neck snapping from where I stood. The euphoria rush hit me like a truck, making my biotics flare massively for a second.

'_Lovely. Just deal with it Caine. The krogan will be enough of a problem.'_

A krogan came screaming around the same corner as the vorcha, his shotgun in hand.

"The fuck?" he snarled. I hit him with a warp, expecting him to stagger at least. He didn't.

He took it like a champ, taking half a step back and _laughing._

'_Well shit. This'll be fun.'_

He brought his shotgun and loosed a shot that narrowly missed me. I fired off more and more warps and tried to throw him back. Each and every attack he took with no difficultly, his regenerative system too fast for my biotics to do any real damage. Another shot from his shotgun grazed my stomach, leaving another tear through the already battered jacket. I launched a barrage of biotics at him, closing in to try to damage him in hand-to-hand. I got in close, letting a front kick to his head go and followed my momentum with a spinning back kick. I planted both feet on the floor and launched an elbow at his head. He caught my arm and with a simple "My turn." He charged into a wall with me, leaving a huge dent in it and a jolt of pain was sent through my body. I grunted and brought my knee up and kicked out, creating some space between us. I fell to the floor while the krogan stumbled back.

I had to improvise with this lot as two more krogan barrelled around the corner, shotguns in their hands as well. Biotics or hand-to-hand on their own were failing miserably so I thought quickly and reacted with those thoughts, my fist becoming enveloped in powerful mass effect fields. I stood up and rushed the nearest one, punching him in his jaw. His head jerked back and blood began flowing out of his mouth.

'_Much better.' _I thought.

I followed up with another punch and followed my momentum with a biotic kick into his head, knocking him out. By this time the other two had got up and began circling around me while some vorcha came flying around a corner behind me.

"Took your time fellas!" I said to them tauntingly. "Are you all this slow?" I said with a grin on my face.

They just snarled and the krogan came charging at me, the vorcha opening fire. My shields took the brunt of the fire for me before I managed to erect a barrier around me. The two krogan met my fists and staggered back a step or two. '_Fucking walking tanks.'_ I thought to myself.

The krogan in question roared at me and charged again, tackling me and pinning me against a wall, leaving another dent in it. _Again._ I grunted as I felt the pain hit my back. My arms had stayed free this time and I focused all my energy into my hands, thick mass effect fields surrounding them and I reached up and smoothly snapped his neck. At least that was the plan.

Instead he laughed like a madman and grabbed one of my hands and twisted it sharply. A sharp crack and a blinding pain shot through my body, making me yell. My mind reacted, coating my body in blue fire and I pushed the krogan off me with my feet and fired off a kick to his head, making it snap back. I ducked down, sweeping his legs from under him and fell back on myself as another bolt of pain from my broken wrist hit me. The standing krogan laughed and motioned for the vorcha to stop firing. He grabbed me roughly and started to drag me through the building.

* * *

**Vindicta:**

A dull thud came from above her and she winced trying to ignore it while searching through yet another empty office. A yell came from above and she winced again. '_That didn't sound fun.'_

She searched through trying to find anything, _anything_ that would help them. So far all she had come across was weapons that she had rendered useless by removing some parts of them.

A booming laugh from close by made her cut her search short and she quickly bolted into a room, it's door closing just as the owner of the laugh passed by. Bits of conversation could be heard.

"…Idiot human…take on krogan?." A familiar laugh, tinged with pain came to her.

"Give it your best shot then ugly. Ten credits say that you can't break me within the year." Was the mocking reply to his threat.

'_Shit. They've got Caine.'_ She realized.

There was a dull thud as Caine got slammed into the wall and it became slightly dented. '_Fucking hell. Spirits help that crazy bastard.'_ He gave a low grunt as more krogan and vorcha started laughing.

"Oh, we're gonna enjoy breaking you human."

She heard them drag him away and she exited, looking down the hallway to see a familiar dark hood slip around the corner. She looked behind her at the way back out through the window, thinking. She could leave right now and no one would be any wiser. Or she could try to get Caine out.

She started towards the corner he had disappeared behind, muttering to herself. "Vindicta you crazy turian." How the hell was she meant to get him out from a base full of krogan?

Her hand drifted to the grenades on her armour. They were almost certainly going to torture him.

And they had seen the torture rooms on the blueprints. As well as a certain wall she could blow to kingdom come.

* * *

**Caine (15 Minutes later): **

"You are truly an idiot human. Thinking you can take on krogan and vorcha?" I laughed at him, the laugh tinged with pain from my wrist.

"Give it your best shot then ugly. Ten credits say that you can't break me within the year." Was my mocking reply to his threat. I spat at his foot. He picked me up and slammed into another wall, denting it slightly.

'_What the fuck is with me getting slammed into walls all the time?'_ I thought as I saw darkness start to creep into my vision.

"Oh, we're gonna enjoy breaking you human." I fought off the darkness threatening to engulf me and smiled a defiant smile. I wasn't gonna let these fuckers see how much they had got to me.

They grabbed hold off me and started dragging me again. I let my head drop down as they did.

'_Think fast Caine. How the fuck are you getting outta this one?'_

We approached a room, isolated from the others, with two guards standing outside and scanners leading inside.

'_Oh shit.'_

They shoved me inside roughly and strapped me down onto a chair, leaving my injured wrist out, next to another person, an asari. One that looked bloody familiar for some reason. She was staring at me funny, like _I _was looking familiar to _her_. The hell?

A low chuckling brought my attention to the krogan in front of me and I recognised him as the one whose lip I had made bleed. He was grinning a sick grin that made my stomach churn when he looked at me.

"We'll start off simple shall we?" He said walking up to me and punching me in the face. My head snapped back and came back to rest on my chest. I tasted blood in my mouth and looked up at him and spat it at him.

"Fuck you." I said quietly to him. He laughed and hit me again. And again. And again. All with a grin on his face.

He backed off for a second and I let out a low groan, feeling the bruises on my face starting to come out and blood from my nose dripping down onto my chest. Fucker hit like a train.

He looked at me for a second then shrugged, took my broken wrist and roughly twisted it right around.

White-hot pain hit me and I bit down on my lip to stop myself screaming. He let go and I felt it go limp and let out a grunt and looked up at him.

"Gonna have to do better than that tough guy." I told him weakly. He looked frustrated at my silence doing the torture and stormed out the door; presumably to get some friends.

I let my head fall again, catching my breath when the asari next to me started speaking.

"Caine." She began. '_The fuck does she know my name?'_ "Caine! Look at me."

I looked at her, trying to summon my biotics to help stop the bleeding but I was too tired to focus.

"How the fuck do you know me? Cause unless I kicked your ass one day, I have no idea who you are." I told her quietly. Darkness started to creep into my vision but I fought it off.

She opened her mouth to start talking, when the huge krogan came back into the room along with a varren.

I looked at him and grinned, despite feeling like shit and being close to passing out. "Back for more ugly? Always knew my good looks would get me into trouble."

He laughed at that. "You've got fire human, I'll give you that. But no, we're here for your friend this time. Don't worry, I'll break you soon enough." That wiped the grin off my face.

He walked over to her, dragging the varren with him. "Right, you asari bitch, this is your hellhole of a life right now. You've got a hungry varren clawing for you, a pissed off krogan that could snap you in to and you're strapped to a chair, unable to defend yourself. I suggest you tell us what the hell you were doing snooping around our base." She was silent for a second, until the varren started growling lowly at her. I looked away, not wanting to see what was coming next.

At least I was before she answered him with one word. "Nirenk." I snapped my head back up to her.

'_The fuck does she know him?" _She was looking at me, desperate for help. The krogan was glaring at her, shouting at her to tell him why. She ignored him, pleading me to do something.

'_She knows Nirenk. She could help you Caine. So think fast and get your ass in gear.'_

At that moment the krogan let the varren go and I saw it charge her, ready to rip her leg out its socket. I reacted, ignoring the pain in my wrist as I jolted forward, kicking out at the varren. It connected at it turned its gaze on me. The krogan grabbed a hold of it before it attacked me and I slumped back, gasping for breath.

"Well, well. So what do youknow about Nirenk then little human? Why would you do that?" I stayed silent and he strode over to me, grabbing my injured wrist. '_For fucks sake.' _ He twisted sharply again and with his free hand, punched me square in the jaw. And this time I did scream. He let my wrist go again and I let my head fall. He leaned in close, pungent breath making me gag a little. "Nirenk, human. What." A punch to my face. "Do." A punch to the stomach that _almost_ definitely cracked a rib or two "You know?" Another punch to the ribs and a flare of white hot pain and I was gasping for breath. I spat blood all over his face in response. "Fuck...you." I gasped out again. He shrugged and started loosening his grip on the varren. "Time's ticking…"

Whatever else he was about to say was interrupted by a mighty explosion behind him, blowing the wall to chunks and trapping him and the varren underneath a bunch of rubble. A turian stormed in, pistol up.

"Christ, Caine. You look like hell." She said as she freed me from the chair. "Let's go!"

Something in the back of my mind clicked, realizing it was Vindicta. I stood up stumbling and falling onto my knees. I looked up and focused stupidly hard on the asari's restraints. They popped open and I started seeing stars and felt blood trickle down my face. Darkness swarmed in again, leaving me crawling. Hands on either side of me grabbed me and pulled me up, starting to carry me out.

'_Stay up Caine. Don't drop now'_

A burst of energy came through me, jolting me awake. I shook the pair off me, looking at the asari, who was glowing biotically and looking straight at me. I looked down at my hands, seeing them wreathed in blue fire. '_Huh. That's…weird.'_ I started running, feeling dazed and light. The asari was running ahead slightly with Vindicta, who slowed down when seeing me behind them.

"You alright? You look like ten tons of shit." She asked. I nodded, grimacing at the pain in my face.

"Yeah." I said quietly, drained of energy. "Trust her." I told Vindicta, nodding towards the asari. "She's after Nirenk as well. Now if you don't mind I'm gonna stop speaking now."

We ran for about five minutes, the asari and me panting and grunting slightly from our injuries. I slowed down into a walk, the Blood Pack clearly not following us and collapsed onto the alley floor, panting for breath. The asari followed my lead and collapsed next to me and leaned her head against the wall. I looked at her, frowning. Vindicta moved to watch the entrance of the alley, letting us catch our breath.

"So." I began, weakly. "Name?"

"Kithka." She said. "I already know yours."

I nodded. "No shit. What the fuck did you do to me back there?" I asked her.

"Gave you a bit of a pick-me-up, if you will. Thanks to what Cerberus did to us, we can kind of bounce our biotics off of each other, give them a boost." She explained.

'_What the fuck?'_

"I don't know what the hell you've been smoking but Cerberus hasn't touched me." I told her, a bit more firmly now. "I'm pretty sure I'd remember that." I shuddered, thinking of the ruthless, ends justify the means type, pro-human group.

Kithka just shook her head. "I'll explain later Caine. In case you forgot I got tortured by those brutes a good while longer than you did."

I sighed, standing up and offering her my hand. "Seen as your after Nirenk, your good in my books." She accepted the hand and I pulled her up. "Come on. I really need to sleep this off. "We started forward again, only to stumble and fall into the floor.

"Hey Vindicta? Might need some help here." She looked over at us, lying on the floor and laughed. She came over picking me up and propping me against the wall and did the same with Kithka. We put our arms over her shoulder and we started walking.

"Wonder what we look like to everyone else?" I mused aloud.

"Like a bunch of ragtag vigilantes that got their asses handed to 'em" Vindicta deadpanned.

I looked at her, chuckling. "Right little ray of sunshine, aren't ya?"

Kithka looked at us and shook her head. "Nutjob."

Yeah, that sums up peoples general feelings on me up pretty well.

* * *

**A/N-Come on people drop some reviews! I can take the constructive criticism and its welcome as it lets me improve in my writing. Just letting me know what I'm doing well on here is a huge boost for me and I'm always looking to improve.**

**So that aside, have a good morning/afternoon/night/whenever people! xD**

**Adios! **


	9. Home Truths

**Chapter 8: Home Truths**

**January 15th 2181**

**Omega **

**Terminus Systems**

**Local Time: 2:00pm**

* * *

**Caine:**

We limped through the door, panting; Vindicta from the weight of carrying two lean people, me and Kithka from our injuries. I collapsed into the hard couch, managing to sit up and the asari followed suit.

"Ughhh." I moaned. "At this point if I was a marine I would make some comment about the morning after shore leave. Seen as I'm not I'll settle for this; krogan _fucking hurt."_

"Shush Caine. What the fuck do you eat anyway? Fucking boulders?" Was the reply from Vindicta, making me laugh and I gripped my ribs.

"Ah, fuck, don't make me laugh. I think that bastard cracked a rib or two."

Vindicta laughed and moved to where I kept the painkillers and medkits. I turned my head to look at injured asari, taking in her injuries. I hadn't noticed when I was the one getting all types of shit kicked out of me, but the asari almost certainly got it worse than me. Bruises covered what was visible of her arms and her face and more than a few cuts were scattered across her face. The entire sight of it made me give a low whistle.

"They put you through the grinder, didn't they?" I said rhetorically. She turned her head to me, nodding slightly.

"That they did." She said simply. And she promptly passed out from exhaustion, shortly followed by me.

**Local Time: 4:00pm**

I woke with a start, feeling the cool air of Omega on my arms and torso. I looked down wearily, to see bandages covering my body and wrist. I looked to my right, to see Kithka in the same condition, although with a top on. Thankfully. That would have been pretty awkward.

I looked around for my top and jacket, noting the dull throb in my ribs. Huh.

Vindicta was sat in the chair by my terminal screens, typing through them.

"Vindicta."

She glanced over her shoulder. "Caine."

"I'm guessing you patched us up?"

"Yup."

I took another look around the room, looking for the jacket. "Appreciate it. So where the hell is my jacket? Hell, a top would be alright for me right now."

She nodded in the general direction of the upstairs. "Up there. Decided to throw a little work in on those shit shield generators, seen as you did a number on my sniper." I nodded and headed up there, events of the day hitting me.

_Cerberus. _Those extremist bastards hadn't touched me. I know for a fact I would have remembered something like _that_. But the asari seemed pretty convinced they had got a hold off me and she knew who I was apparently. I needed answers as soon as she woke. At least the total cock up of a mission that was the assault on the merc base wasn't a total waste.

I looked down at my battered body, cataloguing injuries. Bastard krogan had kicked me into dark space and back. And I had only been there for what? Twenty minutes, half an hour at most. Kithka had been there much longer than me and looking at the bruises covering her face and arm, they hadn't wasted time.

I came up on the room with the balcony overlooking the bridge into my place. My shirt and jacket were laid there, on a table.

'_Damn jackets ripped to shreds.' _I realized. There were tears all over the left side from the assault on the ware house. A huge gap on the right side of the shirt and jacket was evidence of how close that shotgun had come to killing me. Lovely.

I donned the clothes, wincing slightly as my ribs ached a bit. Yeah, those were definitely cracked. No more base raids for the next few weeks for me while those healed.

I came back down, wondering. How the hell did Vindicta know how to patch us up so well? She had done a pretty bang up job of putting me back together.

"Hey Vindicta?"

"Hmmm?"

"How did you put us back together so well? As far as I could tell I was all kinds of fucked up and Blue over there was knocking at deaths door." I asked.

"Required stint in the turian military. I served as a sniper but basic field medic courses were a must." She widened her mandible slightly in a smile. Or a smirk? Fucking turians are hard to read. "That and a little bit of expertise from the all-knowing extranet."

I nodded. "Good to see I was in good hands then."

"Thanks."

"I was talking about the extranet but sure take it as a compliment." I joked. Least I could after getting my ass royally handed to me on a silver platter. I tilted my head in Kithka's direction. "How's our asari doing?" I asked.

"She got fucked up in there. No broken bones but she had some cracked ribs and bruised all over her body." I winced. "Yeah. They didn't let up at all. I'm damn surprised she's still with us."

"Speaking of which…" I muttered as I noticed said asari waking. "I need some damned answers."

"Go easy on her Caine. She's had enough to deal with without you interrogating her."

I sat down next to her, waiting for her to fully wake up and realize where she was. She blinked, looking around, dazed for a moment. I cleared my throat and her eyes shot straight to me.

"So, how bad are you feeling right now? 'Cause I feel like shit and you were there for longer than I was." I asked her.

"Like I just went a few days in a krogan torture room. Oh, wait a second…" That got a quiet chuckle out of me.

"Well, I need some answers. Hope you're up for talking a lot." She nodded. "Good. Best start off with the present then. Obviously you were there for Nirenk. Why?"

She took a breath. "He killed the one that got me out of that Cerberus shithole."

"Ok. Cerberus, then. What the hell do I have to do with them? 'Cause I can't remember getting cooped up in any such place and I'm pretty sure that I would if I was." I told her. It was true. I think.

"I can't explain it." She told me. "Too much happened there to put into words. I can show you though." I looked at her for a second, head cocked in confusion for a few seconds before it hit me.

"No. No way. Hell will freeze over before _anyone_ gets inside of my head." Asari had the ability to meld with people. Don't ask me the intricacies of it but I knew enough about it to understand what she was suggesting.

"It's the only way you'll know why you're linked with Cerberus and how I know you."

I looked at Vindicta, who was looking at us and motioned towards the door with my head. She nodded and left. Least she the decency to leave without a fuss.

"No one gets inside my head." I hissed at her. "You _really_ don't want to go there. Hell, even I don't want to at times. And I know enough about asari to know that a crazy head like mine could fucking murder yours if you're not careful."

She just shook her head at me. "It's the only way to get that memory of yours back Caine. I could tell you, but your actual memory of it would still be gone. You don't remember most of your child hood right? I didn't either, before I got told by the one who got me out of there." She shuddered. "I don't blame whoever got you out for not telling you. But you need to know."

I looked down for a while, thinking. _No one_ should go inside my head. It was fucked up enough already without someone else adding to that. But knowing how I was linked to Cerberus could help me. Explain why I got that mad euphoria rush when I killed. Which in turn could help me control it.

I nodded. "Fine. But don't go poking around anymore than you need to. And answer me this; when you…kill someone do you get a mad euphoria rush? Like a really addictive one."

She nodded "Yeah, I used to." She took a breath, closing her eyes and they were pure obsidian black when she opened them. "Relax Caine. Embrace Eternity!"

I felt a sudden sensation of dropping and the next thing I knew I was lying on a metal table, scientists around me, jabbing needles into me. I felt younger, more flexible and about ten times more dangerous than I had in…forever.

_Relax Caine, I can't help you if you keep trying to force me out your head._

_Maybe the fact that I'm only doing this out of necessity and not because I want to has something to do with that? I told you **no one** gets inside my head._

_Shut up and let me focus before your head tears us both into empty shells. _Her voice sounded strained slightly.

_Just remember it was your idea. Where the hell am I anyway?_

_A Cerberus lab. Don't ask me where, I have no idea. If I did, it would dust by now._

I stayed quiet, watching what was going on around me. A needle went into me and that hated euphoria shot through my body, making it arch. That explained the euphoria rushes. The bastards conditioned my body with it.

_What the fuck Kithka?_

_It's a memory Caine. It might be buried but that doesn't change the fact you experienced it._

_How old was I when this happened?_

_Six._

That was when a door behind me opened and a familiar looking child asari came through it and was led into a ring off by the side. They pulled me off the table and pushed me roughly into the ring. A scientist spoke out.

"Fight."

_Fuck off. They made us fight?_

_Yeah. If I remember correctly we kicked each other to dark space and back more than a few times._

_Bloody hell._

I launched a throw out, against my will and the younger Kithka met it with her own and they collided mid-air, creating a dark explosion. She launched out with a warp. It came towards the younger me faster than anything I could throw out now, and it hit me square in the chest, making me stagger back.

_Fucking hell. I thought you were on my side?_

_If it makes you feel any better, you got back at me pretty quick after that one._

_Strangely enough, no, not really._

There was another dropping sensation and a sharp pain in my mind.

_Sorry Caine. It'll get worse than that. Your mind wants to keep this one buried. I'll stop if it gets too much._

I mentally braced myself for the incoming pain. _Keep going Blue. I took torture off a krogan, I can take your mind games._

_There not mind…Forget it._

I was in a cell this time around, starving and dehydrated. There was an asari next to me, sat loosely against the wall.

_Cerberus fucking tortured us?_

_We were meant to be sleeper agents in the asari and human governments. We constantly resisted and slowly, they would break us down like this. Now shut up and watch._

My body felt bruised and broken and jolts of pain would shoot through my body randomly. A woman came by us. She had black hair and was wearing a _really_ stupid looking catsuit thing.

_She looks ridiculous._

_Shut up Caine. Your heads still trying to get rid of me._

_I did warn you. And don't pretend that she doesn't look stupid._

_…_

_Shutting up._

She looked at us, cold and calculating and just marched off again. A few minutes' later two people came around the corner, dressed in the typical lab coats and the Cerberus logo on them.

"Back for more?" I felt my younger self rasp out.

_Heh. Good to know I still had a golden sense of humour even back then._

They looked at each other nervously, then back at us. One of them looked _very _familiar.

_Fuck off. It can't be him._

_It is. Your real parents were killed when Cerberus took you, same for me. These two took some pity on us and realized Cerberus were well…not very nice._

_No shit? I can think of better words for them._

_I know._

They unlocked the door to the cell and the male grabbed me, the female grabbing the younger Kithka. Everything sort of…faded out after that.

_So. What happened after that?_

_As far as I can tell, they carried us out, using their own biotics to take down the guards. We constantly drifted in and out of consciousness and they spilt up. You to Omega, me to the Citadel._

_ And you came here looking for answers._

_Yeah._

There another dropping sensation and I was back on Omega. Kithka swayed backwards looking pretty wiped out. I had a killer headache and was feeling pretty tired myself.

I looked at her. "I am _never _letting you inside my head again. Fucking hell."

"It was the only way Caine. If it helps, your mind gave me a battering while I was inside it."

"Good."

And I promptly passed out. _Again._

**Vindicta:**

She heard a dull thud and rushed in to see Caine pass out and crash onto the floor next to Kithka.

'_What the fuck? The hell did she do to him?'_

She went over to them and put the two back on the couch, muscles screaming. Carrying two people from a merc base back to theirs was a kiler. She knelt down and shook Caine back to the land of the living.

He came back with a start, looking…disturbed. He glanced at Kithka then back at her.

"Want me to kick her out? I mean that in the literal sense by the way." He shook his head.

"No. She's as much of a powerhouse as I am, maybe more so considering she's asari. She just…brought back some bad memories, I guess." He said.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No way in hell. And remind me to _never _let anyone in my head again. Serious headaches occur."

"Throw it on your to-do list then." She joked. She grabbed hold of Kithka, shaking her awake, slightly more roughly than she had with Caine.

"Hey. Wakey wakey Kithka." She groaned and opened her eyes, looking at Caine.

"Your head is a fucking death trap." She moaned. "I don't think my heads ever hurt this bad after a meld."

Vindicta looked between the two, clicking her mandible unconsciously. "You melded?"

"I told you Vindicta, she brought back some bad memories. Memories that I _really_ wish had stayed buried." He told her, and then smirked at the asari. "I did warn you it was pretty hellish. Good to know that I can still kick ass with a broken body though."

"I can assure you, that mind is definitely _not_ broken." Kithka groaned. "Goddess, I think that _my _mind got its ass handed to it instead."

Caine nodded in mild amusement. "Good. That's what we humans call 'Karma'."

Vindicta shook her head in disbelief. "Shut up you two. You sound like brother and sister-"She missed Caine's slight smile at that. "-the way you argue. Shut up and rest before I hand you back to the krogan." They both shuddered slightly at that and shut up. "Good. Now how long do you think you'll both be out?"

Caine jumped in. "Probably a couple of weeks for the ribs and the bruises are just that. Nothing life threatening."

The asari nodded. "Pretty accurate. We should heal a bit faster than normal."

Vindicta almost missed Caine's mutter of"Fucking Cerberus." Almost but not quite. She shrugged internally.

'_Later' _she thought. '_Let the bastards rest. Spirits knows they need it.'_

She got up, stretching. "What next then? Seen as the krogan kicked our asses all the way to dark space, I assume our little vendetta is pretty screwed until we get another lead."

Caine nodded, opening his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Kithka. "Wrong. There's a base owned by the Blood Pack and Cerberus, jointly." Caine did a double take at that. "We infiltrate it, _quietly_" A glare was shot at Caine.

"What!?"

"I think that means no explosion Caine." Vindicta told him, chuckling at the expression on his face. "Sorry."

"Anyway, we infiltrate it and try to see what we can find on Nirenk and his lot."

Vindicta shrugged. Looked like Caine was the unofficial leader here and Kithka had just made them from a pair to a trio.

'_Crazy bastard's got a talent for attracting people with vendettas."_

* * *

**A/N-*sniff, sniff* Plot thickening, this one smells. xD **

**Hoping everyone enjoyed the little reveal in this one. It was definitely fun to write.**

**As always drop a review or follow, fav, whatever you want if you enjoyed it and if not tell me why.**


	10. Rising Ghost

**Chapter 9: Rising Ghost**

**February 11th 2181**

**Omega**

**Terminus Systems**

**Local Time: 6:00am **

* * *

**Caine:**

"Look, if we go in all together we may as well be wearing a sign saying 'shoot me' while we're in there." Stubborn bloody women.

The three of us were bunched around my terminal, where I had pulled up blueprints and images of the building we infiltrating. There was only one floor to this base but it was _massive._ And seen as both Blood Pack and Cerberus would probably be in there, all three of us going in there would cause us some major problems.

"And if you go in on your own and get found out, you _will_ be wearing a sign saying shoot me. And Goddess knows Cerberus would love to get their hands on you Caine." Kithka shot back in reply.

For fucks sake, this was grating on me. "Look if you two stay here, one on cameras, the other guiding me through the base on comms there's much less risk of us getting found out."

"And how exactly would you get you get us access to those cameras?" Vindicta's voice piped up.

"Easy. I hack 'em when I get to the security room and link them back to those terminals for a good few hours. That way, it can't be traced if they do find it after I get out."

"Someone would need to watch the security room, to make sure that no one goes in there whilst your about." Said Kithka.

I snapped, glaring at her. "For fucks sake, get it into your thick head that anyone else going with me will end up with this entire thing screwing up. I still need someone to guide me through to the security room and through the rest of the building to likely info spots whilst the other one watches the damn cameras." This conversation had been going on for about half an hour, with Kithka _constantly_ trying to get in there with me. Vindicta had conceded long ago that her trying to be quiet wasn't her style.

"Look," I began, softening my voice a bit. "I understand why you want to get in there, trust me, I do. But if you do and we both get found out then we're pretty much fucked. As much as I want to believe our turian friend could bust us out again, I doubt she could take on Blood Pack _and _Cerberus."

There was silence for a second before she spoke again. "Yeah, alright." I breathed out a sigh of relief. I thought she would've kept arguing for a second then. She's got a stubborn streak ten times worse than mine.

"Good. Now then, are we gonna actually do this thing or not?" I moved to a table, grabbing my battered jacket. It still had a massive tear in it from the krogan shotgun but I had been able to stitch up the little ones from the warehouse assault thankfully. I grabbed the balaclava, sliding it up so it rested just under my nose, leaving my eyes and nose free from it.

"Spirits, Caine how bloody long do you think that poor jacket will last?"

"Hey, fuck off. It's got character. Unlike that shit armour."

"At least my armour actually stays in one piece and protects me. Yours is virtually falling to pieces."

"Like I said it's got character."

The asari looked between the two of us and back to me. "You're about to go infiltrate a Blood Pack and Cerberus base and you're making jokes?" She shook her head.

"Why not?" I replied. "Just because it's dangerous as hell, I don't plan on letting those bastards scare me."

"You're crazy."

"Thanks." I chuckled, stepping out the door and tapping the comm unit into life. "Hey, is this thing on?"

"Yeah, it's on smartass."

I nodded and began my run to the base.

**30 Minutes Later:**

"Fucking hell, this base doesn't look any smaller in person; I can tell you right now." I was resting on the closest roof to the base, about half a mile out. I'd say they were paranoid but I'd probably do the exact same thing. It was a clear run to the base and there were snipers everywhere. I had been watching their patrols for about five minutes and it looked like I had literally a minute to cross it without getting spotted.

"Shut up and get your ass in there Caine." Vindicta's voice came through my ear, making me jump slightly.

"Fucking hell, turn it down a bit Vindicta. I'm waiting for a gap in patrols. You know seen as they have fucking snipers." Speaking of which, said gap just appeared and I jumped off the roof, rolling and beginning my run.

"Speak of the damn devil…" I muttered.

"What?"

"Human saying."

"Humans are weird."

"Thanks Kithka. I'll try to take that as a compliment." I heard a slight chuckle in my ear at that.

'_40 seconds Caine. Move your ass.'_

I sprinted and sprinted, stumbling slightly every now and then.

'_30 seconds…'_

Halfway there…

'_15 seconds…'_

Fucking hell, did that thought made me sprint a bit faster.

'_10…'_

My body became wreathed in blue fire and I gave myself a slight push to boost my speed.

'_5…'_

Almost there.

'_2…1'_

I stopped by the vent that would be my ticket in, breathing hard.

'_Fucking A-right Caine. Still got it.'_

"I'm in." I told the asari and turian as I climbed in through the vent.

"Good man. Follow it through to the first exit below you and drop down. Watch out for guards, seen as you're gonna be dropping into the security room." Kithka's voice told me.

I crawled through the vent, mind wandering as I came up to said exit. What the hell were Cerberus doing with the Blood Pack? This wasn't their usual MO. From what I'd heard, they only worked with humans. Maybe they were branching out, building alliances? But if so, what for?

'_Fucking hell, this entire thing is starting to sound like an old Bond vid'_ that thought made me grin a bit. I shook it off. Definitely _not_ the time to entertain my funny side.

I had come up to the exit and peeked in and pulled back straight away. Two guards were standing there, a vorcha and a human. And they weren't tearing each other to pieces, even if it seemed a bit…tense. The human was working the security feed, the vorcha watching the door.

Yeah, these guys put my paranoia to shame.

I peeked through again, thinking and nodded to myself.

I quietly slid the grate open and slid it to the side, waiting for the vorcha to pass underneath me.

Once he did, I jumped down on his head, making him fall. Once again, my body was wreathed in biotic fire as I put the human in stasis and snapped the vorcha's neck. The expected euphoria rush hit me but I ignored it, letting the human drop out of stasis. I grabbed him and swung him into a wall, pressing a hand against his mouth to stop him from yelling. He hit it and dropped unconscious.

Not bad.

"Alright Vindicta, you should be seeing another feed pop up on one of the terminals anytime soon." I told her as I hacked my way through the camera feeds, linking them to my terminal.

"Yeah there up."

I waved at the nearest camera. "Hey."

"Shut up Caine. Concentrate."

"Killjoy. Where next Kithka?"

"There's a hallway when you come out that leads to a bigger room. I'm guessing it's a lab of some kind."

"Only one way to find out." I said going to open the door.

"Wait Caine." Vindicta's voice came through my ear. "Two guards are patrolling outside. Wait until I say so and go out, take the one on your left then the right. He's the more heavily armoured so your gonna have to hit him hard." There was a pause for a second or two. "Go!"

I rushed out the door, putting the right guard in stasis and jumping towards the second guard. He turned around met my fist and he stumbled back. I followed up with a front kick to the stomach, doubling him over and I drove my back knee into his head, knocking him clean out. I walked over to the frozen guard, moving behind him and letting the stasis go. As soon as it went, I wrapped my arms around his neck, forcing my forearm into his windpipe, choking him out. After a few seconds his body went limp in my hands and a euphoria rush shot through me as I checked his pulse-or lack of one.

"Fucking hell, that rush is gonna send me insane sooner or later." I muttered to myself.

And now I'm talking to myself as well as thinking. Brilliant.

"Where now?" I asked, completely forgetting about the lab. We needed info not formulas.

"Keep going down and take the nearest door on your right." Kithka's voice said into my ear.

Vindicta's voice popped up in said ear. "I think you'll like what's in there Caine. No guards and a little present courtesy of Blood Pack or Cerberus."

"Lovely."

I went down, following their instructions and turning into the doorway and saw something that made me freeze for a second before I regained some common sense and moved inside, letting the door close.

Inside laid a collection of weapons; mostly guns and grenades. But the thing that had caught my eye was what was hanging off the wall.

"Hello, beautiful." I murmured as I grabbed hold of the katana on the wall. "I do believe you're coming home with me."

A big grin came over my face. It had been a while since I had seen, let alone _used _one of these beauties. My-what was he now anyway? Father? Rescuer? Fuck knows. Whoever he was he had owned one and let me practice with it now and again.

I looked at the camera. "I could kiss you two." I said, doing a few basic swings with it.

I heard laughing from the pair on the other end. "All right lover boy. Stop staring at that thing and get to work. Go back out the door you came in and head in the opposite door. Two guards are in there and Vindicta's telling me that there's a terminal inside you can run a hack on." Kithka informed me.

"Vindicta tell me when their backs are turned."

"Gotcha."

I swung the katana a few times, getting used to its weight and feel. There was a button at the bottom of the handle. I pressed it and watched an electric current shock its way up and down the blade.

Oh. My. God. So fucking awesome.

"Go Caine."

I rushed out and into the opposite room, bringing the electrified katana up and swiped at the vorcha's chest. He jumped back and the edge of the blade just nicked his sternum, making him shudder as the current passed through him. I swung around with my momentum and swung upwards at the other vorcha's head, splitting it in half and killing him instantly.

'_This thing was fucking made for me.'_ I thought as I swung back around and took another swipe at the vorcha's chest slicing it cleanly. He fell to the floor gurgling.

"Please tell me someone just recorded that? 'Cause that was fucking awesome." I said into the comms as I moved to the terminal and started running a hack program I had designed whilst recovering. "And please tell me that this isn't the only terminal in the base I can crack open? This beauty is too awesome to _not_ use on these bastards."

"Sorry Caine, next time I'll have the camera on standby. There's two or three more terminals that should hold some good info from what Vindicta's looking at here but that depends on what you can snatch from that terminal. We only need leads on Nirenk, Dominus or why the hell merc's and extremist groups are teaming up. That last part is mildly worrying." Kithka informed me.

"So, while I'm waiting for this, anything else I should know about you or what Cerberus did to me?" I said that one directly to Kithka's comm. This was something I _really_ didn't need getting out.

"Slow down Caine. I've already told you as much as I can about what happened to us. Cerberus are the only ones that know what happened apart from us."

I took a breath. "I know. I just _need_ to know. I need to know everything they did to us."

A ping from my omni-tool told me the hack was done. "Hacks finished. I'm sending the info over now. Have a quick scan over it and if anything jumps out read it out. Tell me if it's all junk so I have a valid excuse to use this absolute beast of a sword again."

There was silence for a few minutes as the two dropped everything and started scanning through what I had sent over. "Come on people talk to me. Anything come up yet?"

"No Caine, henceforth we haven't said anything. Relax."

"I'm in the middle of a fucking merc and extremist joint base, with unknown amounts of krogan, vorcha, humans and possibly varren and you want me to relax?"

"Well…yeah." Kithka's voice told me.

"And you call me crazy."

There was another few minutes of silence. A curse from Kithka broke that and I jumped on the chance. "What? What is it?"

"Someone must've got in the security room while we were combing these files. They've seen you Caine and there's around three krogan, five vorcha, a human or three and a varren waiting for you to go outside." She paused for a second, taking over Vindictas role momentarily. "Goddess."

"Kithka, I sweat to all that is holy, if you don't stop getting me tensed up like this, I will personally and happily rip your tongue out. Now what are my options?" I felt like a bit of an ass after that one but I wasn't going to get out of here alive if she was gonna do that when I needed intel on _everything_.

"I don't know Caine, I haven't exactly been at this as long as you." She said, panicking slightly.

"All right then. Take a breath Kithka and calm down. I'll talk you through it. There's around twelve people outside. I need to know how their positioned."

"In a U shape around the door. No gaps anywhere."

That wasn't good. "Give me their general weapon state."

"Assault rifles and pistols for the vorcha and humans and the krogans got a…a rocket launcher."

"All _three _of them?!" Well, fuck me sideways into oblivion those fellas _really_ don't like me. This was looking grim. "All right then…" I was interrupted by a booming krogan voice.

"Come on out little one! Maybe we'll make your death quick!"

Lovely. "Kithka, I need a way out, yesterday. Just run scenarios through your head, try to predict what would happen in that scenario. Think logically, not emotionally. You can do this." I hissed through to her, keeping my voice down. "I need to keep these jokers busy so they don't bust the door down."

She was silent for a second. "O…Okay."

"You can do this Kithka. Just because you can't fight here, doesn't mean you can't help me."

I raised my voice a bit as I shouted out to the krogan. "I think I'll stay in here thanks! It's nice and warm in here!"

"Caine. I've got an idea but it's stupidly risky. Like I said their positioned around the door in a U shape but the lead krogan is inching forward when he speaks. When I say so, open the door and sprint straight forward and jump off the wall, twisting your body to the right. Keep him talking and he should keep inching forward. Goad him, taunt him, whatever."

"You're right."

"About what?"

"It is stupidly risky."

"Time for you to trust me this time." Her voice was ten times stronger than before. Looks like my little motivational speech did its job. Good.

My turn to take a shaky breath. "Right. Okay, tell me when then."

"So, who am I conversing with here?" The krogan boomed at me.

"'Conversing.' Not bad for a krogan!"

"Name, little one or you shall die and be left without a name to be remembered by."

"Wouldn't you love to know!"

"I would." I could hear the voice coming closer now.

"Someone else just arrived. A women wearing a white catsuit of sorts." Looked like Vindicta was working the cameras again. I froze for second.

"Black hair?" I asked, not wanting to know the answer. "Looks like she could kill with a look?"

"Dead on."

Fuck. That couldn't be a coincidence. Time for answers.

"Let me speak to the one with black hair, wearing a white…suit" I announced, purposely taunting them both.

"Here I am. Turn yourself over and I promise these brutes won't touch you." The woman said with an Australian accent.

What? Just because I've never been on Earth before doesn't mean I don't know my way around different accents!

"Like you lot aren't a bunch of brutes. You just dress it up a lot better. Cerberus." I sneered at her. "

"Why don't you give me your name then? I'm sure I could convince you to our side of thinking."

Oh, fuck the consequences. Seeing this bitch's reaction would be worth it.

"Caine, move!" Well, there goes that plan.

I burst out the door, following the asari's relayed instructions. The group was almost _exactly_ like Kithka had described it, standing in a U-shape apart for the lead krogan and the woman, who was standing off, behind the group. They all took a step back in surprise at my burst through the door. I followed my momentum, pushing my body off the wall and moving back down the hallway.

"Don't just stand there you pyjaks! Kill him!" boomed the krogan. I swear the Cerberus woman looked slightly disturbed. Guess her boss forgot to tell her I was still alive and kicking.

Bullets streaked past my head but I ignored them, gripping the katana tight in my hand and sprinting as fast as I could. At least I did before the krogan decided to use their rockets _indoors._

The rocket streaked past my ear, leaving them ringing and it exploded in front of me, blowing me to my feet. My body glowed and I pushed myself back up with my biotics and kept running to the security room where I could get back in the vent and escape.

As I ran I talked to the two that were working the cameras. "Shame we never got to see what that lab had inside it." I got an idea from that. "Oh." I mentally facepalmed. "Vindicta does that lab have anything chemical in it? Red sand, eezo anything like that?"

"Caine, you've got krogan shooting rockets at you and your busy scheming?"

"Just do it!" I shouted as another rocket narrowly missed me.

"Yeah, it's got some eezo and…oh spirits…."

"What? Vindicta what?" There was silence. "For fucks sake Vindicta, talk to me!"

"Their…They've got children locked up in cages. Different species. All have that eezo getting pumped into them." I heard her take a shaky breath. "Their live test subjects Caine."

'_Well that sounds familiar…Oh wait a sec.'_

"Well that decides it. Fuck stealth, once I get back arm up and bring explosives. We're getting those poor bastards outta here and levelling this place."

"I don't think Aria, Cerberus or Blood Pack would appreciate that Caine. Think logically, not emotionally, remember?" That bitch, using my own words against me.

"Kithka, these are fucking children we're talking about. For all we know, they could be going through what we did. I _am not_ leaving them here."

"I know Caine. Just make sure you're aware of the consequences."

"Aria can go fuck herself if she has a problem with it. I doubt even _she_ would approve of the experiments. How many are there Vindicta?"

"Around ten. Caine what the hell are we gonna do with them? They sure as hell can't stay here."

"No idea. One step at a time Vindicta." I thought quickly as another rocket shot by me and a bullet slipped off my shields. "Kithka, fill Vindicta in. Tell her everything seen as it looks like we're gonna be in for the long haul.

Oh, this was gonna be a long, _long_ day.

* * *

**A/N-So in case you didn't get the idea from that last part, disturbing description might show up in the next chapter although I don't want to go too deep into detail. My aim is to entertain not sicken.**

**Hope everyone enjoyed as always!**

**P/S-Fucking Katana! xD**

**Adios!**


	11. Damn you character restrictions!

**Chapter 10: A human, a turian and an asari walked into a merc base…**

**A/N-Descriptions of children ahead that might be a bit...disturbing. I don't know how people's views of that one vary so do with it what you will. Enjoy hopefully!**

* * *

**February 11th 2181**

**Omega**

**Terminus Systems**

**Local Time: 6:50am**

**Caine:**

"Someone give me a way out of this fucking mess! I've got half of fucking Blood Pack on my ass!" I shouted into comms.

I glanced back, mentally taking numbers. The slow krogan had dropped off and just the vorcha remained chasing me. I saw a flash of black in the mob, swore to myself and poured on the speed. If I could get on the rooftops I would be home free but there were _no_ ways up there fast enough.

"Someone get me a way up on the rooftops! I've got a certain Cerberus bitch chasing me now and she's gaining!" And it was true. Blood Pack was lagging a bit behind me but that Cerberus agent was gaining. And fast.

I twisted around, running backward. My body was wreathed in biotics and I thrust my hand out, sending a dark ball of energy towards her and making her stumble. Not my finest attack.

Another throw and she was on the ground, pushing herself back up straight away. I twisted and ran.

"Caine! Duck left!"

I followed Vindicta's instruction and found myself in a pathway with a bunch of boxes at the end of it. I started towards it but got slammed against the wall hard enough to start seeing stars. An elbow got slammed into my face, popping my nose and making pain shoot through my body. I shook it off enough to see the Cerberus agent standing there, ready to hit me again.

"The fuck off me you Cerberus bitch!" I lashed out, sending a knee into her ribs and the hold on me loosened and another knee let me get free. I slammed my fist into her face, dazing her and making her stumble back. A kick to the ribs doubled her over and I sprinted towards the boxes, hoping they were strong enough to support my weight.

I jumped onto them, praying. Another jump and I felt them buckle under my weight slightly. I clambered up the last box and jumped onto the rooftop. I looked down and saw the Cerberus woman climbing. I grinned, wreathing my body in biotics and sent the boxes flying, making her fall to the ground and get buried underneath the boxes. I turned back running back to my place.

**10 Minutes Later:**

I burst through the door to see Vindicta and Kithka grabbing guns and grenades and attaching them to their armour.

"Well shit, you two didn't waste any time did you?" Both of them started at the sound of my voice and turned around.

"Spirits Caine, the hell happened to your face?"

"This?" I motioned at my bloodied face. "Don't worry about it, popped noses bleed a lot. It'll stop soon." I nodded towards the terminals in the room. "Anything good from those files I got?"

"No idea. We got about a quarter of the way through it before we had to get you out the shit." replied Vindicta. "Most of it was Blood Pack junk mail. We're just gonna have to hope that something good comes up when we check the rest of it."

I nodded and spoke to the two of them. "Ready to kick some merc ass?"

"Damn right." and "The fuck are we waiting for?" were the replies, making me smile.

"Let's go then. No time like the present."

**30 Minutes Later:**

We stood on the rooftop I had sprinted from before, studying the base.

"We leave the explosives until all the kids are out. But we need a way to get them out first, preferably without getting shot to bits." I turned to Vindicta. "How many ways were there into the lab?"

"Just the one. Blowing a wall and going in through there, then holding the doorway while getting the kids out the hole might work."

"I said no explosives until the end of this. It could cause the entire fucking wing to collapse." I hesitated a second. "We could just walk through the front door and start shooting." I nodded to Kithka. "She's as much of a powerhouse as I am, maybe more so considering she's asari." I nodded at Vindicta. "You're a crack shot with that sniper. We should be able to crack a hole and fight our way through."

Kithka spoke up. "Then what? They won't just let us waltz out the front door with their lab rats."

"Blow the wall like Vindicta said. The base might collapse but we get enough time to organise the kids and get 'em out." It was risky but should work if we had some luck on our side.

Vindicta shrugged, looking over the base. "I'm not seeing any other ways in that would work. We'd have to move quick, strike fast though. We'll have a shock value for a bit but they'll have to wise up eventually."

I looked to Kithka who just nodded. "I'm no strategist. Kick the front door down, kick ass, take names and leave. In other words, yeah, I'm in."

I rubbed my hands together, looking over at the roof full of snipers. "We're gonna need some time to get to the entrance then. Those snipers need to be dealt with." I looked at Vindicta then to her sniper. "May as well cause as much mayhem as possible. Let's get this party started. Get shooting Vindicta."

She raised her sniper as me and Kithka jumped down off the low hanging roof, landing with a slight _thud_. We started running as the turian's sniper roared and I saw a guard on the roof drop and seconds later alarms began to blare.

We reached the front entrance, a wide open doorway in a matter of minutes. I looked at Kithka and back at the door, beginning to glow biotically. She got the idea and did the same. I surrounded my feet in mass effect fields and kicked the door off its hinges as Kithka stormed forward, following me.

'_Knock, knock fuckers.'_

We walked into a hallway similar to the one that I was in last time, except this time it was _filled_ with vorcha, human, krogan. I thrust my hand out, sending a human flying against the wall and all hell broke loose.

Shots rang out around our heads, some bouncing of our shields and barriers. Assault rifles rang hell down on us.

Poor bastards didn't stand a chance.

I moved, rolling to my left and slit a vorcha's stomach in two. I sprinted forward, burying the sword to its hilt in a krogan's head and bringing it out and slicing his head off, covering me in blood.

'_That's…new.'_

I glanced over at Kithka to see how she was doing, as most of the attention seemed to be focused on her and froze momentarily at the sight I saw.

She moved with the atypical grace of asari, flowing gracefully between the opposition. She was wreathed in biotic fire, throwing vorcha to the ground and slamming humans to the ground like ragdolls. That wasn't what made me freeze though.

She rolled and straightened up right in front of a krogan and they paused for a second, staring off like two predators.

She struck lighting fast, slugging him across the jaw and moving to the side of him. She launched a kick into the back of his knee, making him fall onto them. She simply grabbed his neck and snapped it.

The entire movement was over in about five seconds.

I came back to my senses as three vorcha came around me, hissing. I threw up a barrier as they opened fire, wincing slightly at the energy I had to spend to keep it up. Their weapons overheated and I made my move, dropping the barrier and launching a kick at the nearest one's head. It connected and he crumpled, passed out. I pressed the bottom of the katana, making electricity arc through it. I rolled coming up between the two. I pressed my sword to one's rifle, making it fizzle out and smoke and launched a warp at the other one which hit him square in the chest, making him take a step back. I brought my knee up and launched a straight kick at the side of his leg, hoping it would break the leg. It did and he collapsed to the floor.

'_No more fighting for that bastard.'_ The strike had shattered his knee and when it eventually did heal, he would be walking with a _very_ heavy limp. I turned my attention to the gun-less vorcha, bringing my sword up and driving it through his chest, making him gurgle blood up. I withdrew it and moved on, leaving blood loss to finish the job off.

Two humans, the Cerberus emblem displayed clearly on their chest stood in front of me, blocking the way forward. I felt Kithka come up beside me. She too, was caked in blood. Lovely. Long showers would be needed once this was done then.

The two humans stood side to side, pointing their trembling guns at us. They were fucking terrified.

"Move." I growled, giving them one chance to get out our way. "And you _might_ live."

They glanced at each other, then back to us and held their ground.

I sighed. "Idiots." They opened fire and Kithka and I threw up barriers simultaneously and waited for the overheat on their guns.

It came and Kithka and I both thrust our hands out and sent the pair flying against a wall to the side.

"That's _really_ starting to get too predictable." I muttered.

Kithka looked at me and cocked her head questionably. "Why not kill them? They were Cerberus."

"They might be Cerberus but everyone makes mistakes. So, everyone deserves a second chance to amend stuff." I explained. "Now really isn't the time. You want some deep, emotional talk come find me after this. Right now we have some kids to bust outta this hellhole." She nodded and we began to move forward. "I want to have a look at the security cameras. If that little group were the only ones waiting for us to walk through door, I'll give you my katana. It'd be nice to see what we're walking into here."

"Sounds good. Check the lab as well, make sure we know where the kids are so we don't hurt the poor sods."

"Right. Tell Vindicta to move around and plant the explosives on the wall. After that, tell her to plant some around the base on a separate trigger. I said this base was getting blown to hell and I plan to follow through with that."

I sidestepped into the empty security room, surprised at the lack of guards there.

"Why the fuck would they just leave us to look at the cameras?"

"'Cause their idiots Caine. Now hurry up."

I moved up to the terminal, scrolling through the different screens quickly. I reached the one for the lab and manipulated it around to look at the kids. What I saw made my breath catch in my throat.

"My god…" I murmured. Around ten kids were all in cages, IV drips attached to their arms. Asari, salarian, human and turian kids all getting eezo pumped into their bodies. The human kids were bruised and bloodied and different blood stains were on the cage floors. I couldn't see bruises on the others but I guess they still had them, even if I couldn't see them. That wasn't what made my fists curl and body light itself in biotics.

It was the coffins at the other side of the room to them. It was the pure terror in the kid's eyes. I could go on but I won't. I didn't even bother looking at what was waiting for us on the other side of those doors because whatever was, was going to be _fucking annihilated_.

I stormed out the room, Kithka hot on my heels, looking confused.

"Caine!" She shouted at me to stop but I ignored her. The fuck did those sick bastards think they were doing?

"For fucks sake Caine, stop!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and spun around.

"What the fuck did you see?"

"I saw those kids, IV drips in their arms, terrified outta their minds. I saw coffins with kids in them." I growled lowly. "So get the fuck off of me and let me rip these bastards to pieces." I shook her hand off and stalked forward, body glowing violently with biotics. To say I felt pissed off was an understatement.

I felt her hand on my shoulder again and again I spun around. "Stop me one more time and you're headed through the nearest wall." I hissed at her. "The fuck gives these bastards the right to experiment on _children?_" I took a deep breath in. "Kithka, let go off me. Now."

"No."

I started glowing a bit more violently. "What?" I asked, dangerously.

"I said, no. You'll get yourself killed if you just storm in there on your own. Calm down."

"Did you not hear me? They. Are. Torturing. Kids." I said to her, slowly and with warning in my voice. "So, you get one more chance to let go off me before I send you through a wall or two." I felt her hand let go off my shoulder slowly and spun around sending the doors in front of me flying open and revealing five krogan standing there with shotguns cocked and ready to fire.

I reacted, flicking my hand at one, hitting him with a throw hard enough to throw him into a friend behind him. A shotgun roared and shots bounced off my barrier and I spun around, sending a warp at the offender, ripping him to pieces at a molecular level. He scrambled backwards, scratching at himself, trying to rid himself off the field. I stalked forward, vaguely aware of Kithka dodging the other three krogan attacks, and swiped with the katana, catching him in the stomach and making his body arc from the electric shock through his body. Another swipe pierced his armour, making him fall to the ground, gurgling. I turned around to see a krogan charge straight at me and connect, lifting me up and taking me to a wall. _Fast._

I hit it hard enough to wind me for a second and I gasped breath back into my lungs quickly. I felt a blow to my face, popping my nose _again._ The force of the blow forced my head to turn and I caught a glimpse of the kids, cowering in the corner, terrified. That did it for me. My head snapped back to the krogan and I focused, freezing him in a stasis field and dropping down. I moved behind him, dropped the stasis and shoved the katana through his chest, sinking it to the hilt. He roared in pain and dropped to his knees, blood beginning to leak out his mouth.

That was strangely…satisfying. And I was grinning.

'_Oh, that's **really** not good'_

I ignored it, forcing the grin off my face and turning round to help Kithka. What I saw wasn't good. At all.

One had her pinned to the wall and was slamming his head into her's over and over again. Another lay at the floor below her, blood trickling from multiple wounds on his head. The final one was picking up a discarded shotgun and preparing to pump it.

_Idiots._

I sprinted to the one holding Kithka to the wall and tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced around, expecting to see his friend and instead got my sword through one of his eyes. He roared a death cry and fell to the floor, clasping his eye whilst bleeding to death. Kithka fell to the floor and quickly pushed herself back up, glowing as violently as I was.

We both turned to the krogan who had the shotgun in his hands and simultaneously flicked our wrists and sent him through a wall.

The entire fight had taken around three minutes.

I looked at Kithka taking in the asari blood flowing down her face. "You gonna be ok?" I asked.

She nodded and I marched over to the kids, trying to make my voice a bit friendlier than my usual deep voice. "Hey." I said softly. "Don't be scared. We're here to help and get you out away from these ba-people." I halted momentarily, covering the curse instinctively. Huh.

"Look, I'm going to let you out." I informed them. "But once I do, I need you to follow what I say _to_ _the_ _letter. _Ok?" I received a bunch of reluctant nods and began slicing the locks of the cages with my katana, letting the doors swing freely. They began to take stiff, hesitant steps out and gathered in a group. Older kids helped the younger ones pull the IV drips out from their arms and did the same or themselves.

"All right. This wall…" I pointed to wall Vindicta would blow for us. "…is about to fall. Make sure you're a safe distance away from it and run straight through the hole as soon as you can see properly. Cover your ears. It'll be loud. Stop when you see a turian called Vindicta and we'll meet you there." They shuffled away from the wall and put fingers in their ears. At least the ones who could did anyway. I moved away, finger to my ear. "All right Vindicta, blow it when ready. And get ready for a bunch of kids headed your way. You might have to stop 'em. Gently." A second later a mighty explosion rocked our ears and dust rose from the wall. The sound of feet on a floor was clear as everyone began to run for the exit. The sound of feet pattering was clear as we ran through the hole and into a wide-ish open section of the base. Vindicta was stood at the way out, gun up and aimed at exit although she was looking our way. I motioned at her to go and she started to sprint forwards. "Follow the turian! Stick close to her." I shouted at them and clicked the comm to Vindicta on. "Head back to the base. They'll follow you. Don't go too far ahead and _definitely_ don't hit the rooftops."

"Yeah, yeah, I know Caine. I'm not stupid."

"Sure?" I asked jokingly. I changed over to the asari's comm. "I need to have words with you as soon as we get back. That damned euphoria rush is sending me insane without realising it."

* * *

**A/N-Ah finally something goes right for these poor sods-and I'm not talking about the kids.**

**Adios!**


	12. Only HumanRight?

**Chapter 11: Only Human…Right?**

**February 11th 2181**

**Omega**

**Terminus Systems**

**Local Time: 7:40am**

**A/N- Just some quick thanks to An Amber Pen, Mr Crowbar and darkerego for the reviews. It means a lot to me to know people are enjoying what I write!**

* * *

"Wonder what we just looked like to everyone else, jogging down the street with a bunch of kids." I mused out loud as we stopped our steady jog on the long bridge.

"I'm not too sure I even want to know what they thought. Probably something…unflattering." Said Kithka's voice beside me. "You said you wanted to speak to me?"

"Later. When everything's settled down and no one's listening in. It's a tad…personal." Kithka nodded her understanding. "Good."

I strode forward and opened the door. The kids ran all around the place, laughing and playing for what must've been the first time in years for some of them.

I shook my head, clearing it of stray thoughts. I grabbed Vindicta.

"Who's the oldest? I need to ask a few questions unfortunately."

"The asari, I think. She's young by her race's standards and looks it too, but I think she's twice as old as us."

I whistled softly. "Never gonna get over that. They look better at fifty than I do at twenty."

"Yeah. Don't ask her now. Wait until everyone's settled. Hell, I'd say get Kithka to ask her the questions seen as there both asari. Something to relate to, you know?"

"Yeah. Alright, in that case I'm dropping for an hour or two. Wake me if something needs killing."

She nodded and I walked over to the couch and flopped down on it exhausted and slipping into the sleep of the dead.

* * *

**1 Hour Later:**

_Bloodcurdling screams echoed around me. Mercenaries begged for mercy._

_Flashes of blood. Lances of euphoria rocketed through my body, making it arc and making me grin like a madman._

"Caine! Caine wake the hell up!"

_A mercenary was on his knees, begging for mercy. I lifted him up and biotically ripped his throat out, covering me in blood. _

_Another lance of euphoria. Stronger this time._

_Why the hell would **anyone** want to stop this?!_

"For fucks sake Caine, wake the hell up before you kill yourself!"

Rough, taloned hands grabbed me and started shaking me roughly, making me snap my eyes open from…whatever the _fuck_ that was. I shot up like a bullet, glowing and ready to kill.

"You see Kithka _that_ is how you wake up a sleeping beauty. Shouting, swearing and shaking. Never fails." Said Vindicta.

"Caine." I felt a soft hand on my shoulder from behind. "You alright? You were shaking and swinging out everywhere. Hell, you threw Vindicta into a wall with your biotics."

'_Whoops. Guess that was the merc getting his throat ripped out' _I shuddered at the recollection of the dream.

"Yeah. I'm good." I nodded at Vindicta. "Didn't hit you too hard did I?" She shook her head. "Good." A quick glance around the room revealed no kids. Huh.

"Where are the kids?"

"Upstairs. Scattered around on blankets. Speaking of, figured anything out to deal with that problem?"

"No. Unless someone knows anyone on the Citadel or in Citadel Space that can afford to look after them and are willing to."

"No…but that gives me an idea. Wait a sec." Vindicta jogged off to my terminals and brought the extranet up, running a search on something.

I shook my head, trying to clear some of the grogginess from the sleep. Kithka looked at me concerned. "For crying out loud Kithka, I'm fine. Everyone gets nightmares now and again."

"Not everyone throws a friend into a wall and almost snaps their back by _accident_."

"I'm fine. Leave it there." I walked over to Vindicta before she could question me anymore. "What've you got?"

"Orphanages on the Citadel. Not the ideal place but they'll be looked after and off this station. No questions asked about how we found them either. Just need a shuttle off of Omega."

"And a shuttle back. We still have shit to finish off remember." She nodded.

"One day on the Citadel to get them there and get some good supplies, then come back and start kicking merc ass again."

"Speaking of which." I began. "We should go to Aria. We have no idea where to strike for info and the Queen of Omega has eyes and ears everywhere." She spun around at me and I put my hands in the air. "Only thing I can think of right now. Trust me I don't like it either and if I think of anything better, we'll do that instead."

There was silence. "How hard did I really slam you into that wall?"

"Hard enough I felt my bones crack a bit."

'_Shit' _"Fucking hell…"

"Don't bother apologising. I know it was an accident and if you really wanted to hurt me-well, I probably wouldn't be able to speak right now."

Another lapse of silence.

"I need to talk to Blue. Let me know when you've got something arranged. Don't worry about credits, use my account. Fuck knows I have more than enough."

Another nod. Bloody ice queen.

I moved away, silently grabbing Kithka by her arm, eliciting a quiet gasp of surprise and pulled her into a side room.

"Right. I need some fucking answers ASAP."

"Go ahead."

"Euphoria rush. How. The fuck. Do I get rid of it?"

She paused as if considering her options. "Spill Kithka. What are you thinking?"

"A lot of things." She paused. "I think you've got krogan bloodlust."

"What?" I asked sharply. "You better start explaining Blue. Like, yesterday."

"You won't remember this. Not yet. But when we were with Cerberus, they pumped us full of eezo right? Well, they pumped us full of other things. I didn't know what they were at the time, but now…I did a little digging before coming here. They were injecting different things into us. You were pumped full of krogan, turian and asari genes. I was pumped full of salarian genes."

"How reliable was the info?" I demanded. This was pretty fucking big, considering I'd been searching for an answer to this for years and hadn't found one.

"Very. But it would also mean a few other things."

"Like?"

"You have a turians military mind."

"Fuck off Kithka." I scoffed "I'm a vigilante, looking for some payback and hit the speed of light when I see any form of police or law searching for me. Or at least I would if Omega had any police or law."

"You see openings in enemies. You crack them open and exploit them. Trust me Caine, the genes are there. I've seen them myself and I wouldn't tell you about this if I wasn't sure about it."

I sighed. This was fucking insane. "What about the asari genes then? I know it wasn't for biotics seen as I already had the gene for it. Cerberus just nudged it along with eezo, right?"

"Right. So, you have one of two things. Our lifespan or our natural agility. Hell you could have both, considering your skill in combat."

I leaned against a wall softly, steadying myself. "Well shit." I muttered. "I asked for an answer. Fuck me sideways into oblivion, if I didn't get one."

"It's pure guesswork by me Caine. It's the most likely reason why you are like you are in battle but I could be wrong."

I raised my head up slightly. "I was designed to be the perfect warrior." I said softly. "If what you said was true, that's all there is too it. What about you? I've seen you fight as well Kithka. You must have more than salarian genes in you."

"They injected genes into us in stages. I think they were about to inject drell genes into me. Probably did as well. I don't know." She had spoken about this like she was talking about the weather. How the fuck was she so calm and…collected about it?

"We're fucking super soldiers aren't we?" I got a nod in reply. "Well shit. I don't know whether or not having the possibility an asari lifetime is a good thing or a bad one."

We stood there in an awkward silence. I couldn't give two fucks about it as my mind was whirling away like a freaking hurricane. '_I could live for a thousand years. I could be the best damn fighter in this galaxy. If I wanted to. If I let everything just…take over and fight on instinct.' _That had happened once. I wouldn't bet on that happening again.

Another random thought came to me. "So if I have all these genes inside me, mixing with my natural ones, which species maturity cycle am I following? I mean, I look like I'm twenty but am really twenty-five." I had only picked up on that one once Vindicta did a double take when I told her my age. Hadn't really thought about it too much. "Am I stuck looking like this…" I gestured at my face. "For another…say ten years?"

"I have no idea Caine. We were test subjects, first and the last. There is _no one_ else like us." My eyes wandered up to the ceiling off their own accord. "Not even them Caine. They were just being made into biotic powerhouses."

"All those genes whirling around in there…how the hell are we still alive? Hell could we still be classed as human or asari?"

"Caine. I. Don't. Know."

We lapsed into another awkward silence.

At least it was silent before we heard Vindicta knocking on the wall. "Get out here you two!" She whisper shouted.

I walked out the room, business face on. "What is it Vindicta?"

She had sat back down on the couch, arms resting on her knees. "No transports headed to the Citadel. But I found a cargo freighter headed there." Her mandibles clicked together in what I could only assume was a human smirk. "Plenty of room in there for a bunch of misfits like us."

I grinned. Oh yeah. Now this game, I could play. I walked over to my terminals, beckoning Vindicta over to me. She followed. "So then, what's this freighter called?" I asked. "Be a shame for it to leave with some extra space in the trunk wouldn't it?"

"SSV Saratoga. Big bastard. In one of the docking bays near Afterlife."

I cracked my knuckles and began typing commands into the terminals.

Yeah. I was gonna deal with all that shit later. Right now though, we had a ship to sneak on.

And fuck me, was this gonna be the finest infiltration job I'd done in a while.

* * *

**A/N-I am really, incredibly, unbelievably sorry for the delay in chapters! I got stuck on a bad case of writers block and this is my attempt to write through it. Sorry for the length of it but hopefully it isn't too bad content wise.**

**And onto the next chapter! Adios people!**


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